Sweeter Than Heaven and Hotter Than Hell
by rileypotter17
Summary: A fanfiction collaboration with VenusInHerHair, author of "Love is a Ruthless Game" and RileyPotter17 of "How to be a Heartbreaker". When Lucius visits France, he meets the beautiful Virginia whom he starts a love affair with. But when they move back to England and he meets fiery Lacey, how will he deal with two very different mistresses and how will they deal with each other?
1. Prologue

**Sweeter Than Heaven and Hotter Than Hell**

**A fanfiction collaboration with RileyPotter17 and VenusInHerHair**

***.*.***

**A/N VenusInHerHair: **Hi everyone! I am so so excited to be collaborating with rileypotter17 on our first story together, especially as it features both of our OCs, Lacey Delaney and Virginia Renwick (from my story "Love Is A Ruthless Game"). This is the first time I've written with another author, so I'm thrilled and can't wait to see where it ends up! I hope you all enjoy reading about the luscious Lucius, Virginia and Lacey, and we would both love to hear your thoughts and comments in the review section ^.^ x

**A/N RileyPotter17**: Hey guys, since this is kind of spin-off fan-fiction, make sure to check out both of our OC/Lucius stories (How to Be a Heartbreaker and Love is a Ruthless Game) but I do hope you enjoy how the wonderfully gorgeous Mr. Malfoy deals with having two very different women as mistresses! VenusInHerHair is an extraordinary writer and I am beyond excited to collaborate with her on this story! We would love reviews, so stop by and tell us what you think!

**Prologue**

**Northern France, 2002**

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a recently divorced man, in possession of a considerable fortune, must be in want of a new lover. And so it was with Lucius Malfoy, who, having recently divorced Narcissa, had taken himself over to his villa in Northern France to escape the infuriating media attention he had started to receive due to his ex-wife's perpetual whining to her friends at the Daily Prophet.

He had bought the villa, an extravagant stone building set on an expanse of vineyards, before the War, planning to sell it on for profit, but a young Draco had fallen in love with the place in his youth, and Lucius had never got round to selling it - which, he mused now, was lucky. It was the perfect escape from Wiltshire, secluded and peaceful and surrounded by Muggle farms (although at a significant, comfortable distance).

In fact, the only Wizarding family within the area made up part of the attractiveness of the place, for Lucius had become aware of the fact that Charles Renwick, the patriarch of the ancient, Pure-Blood family, was also at that time staying in his French home with his French wife and their daughter, as the girl had only recently graduated from Beauxbatons, and was not quite ready to move back to England with her parents yet.

Lucius, ever the entrepreneur, hoped to make good use of his time in France, and of the connections he knew the Renwicks to have, and cultivate some sort of business-alliance with Charles. And, if the rumours of his daughter's beauty were true, maybe even have something to do with the young Renwick at the same time. The thrill of the chase was always appealing to Lucius, and to seduce a young Beauxbaton right under her parents' noses would certainly keep Lucius entertained until he deemed it 'safe' to return to Malfoy Manor.

It didn't take long for the invitation to arrive. Lucius had only just been served his breakfast on his second day in the villa when his house-elf, Lexi, scurried in with a roll of parchment. Lucius opened it leisurely, recognizing the coat of arms of the Renwick family, and smirked as he read the sycophantic invitation, penned not by Charles, as he had been expecting, but by Antoinette, his wife, and by all accounts a somewhat awful woman, whom Lucius only hoped her daughter did not take after.

In the letter, she spoke of how she'd come to hear of his arrival in France with _great excitement_, and how it would be a _great pleasure_ to Mr Renwick and herself if Lucius would dine with them that evening, only, _of course_, if he could find the time. Lucius shook his head in amazement - it seemed everything would fall into place perfectly.

He arrived at the Renwick's Mansion that evening, politely on time. It was almost as luxurious as his own villa, set back from a picturesque lake, and built of white brick with a slated roof of grey. The double doors opened wide as he strode up the driveway, and he caught his first glimpse of Madam Antoinette Renwick, a tall women with dark hair piled high on her head, wearing a dark green dress which gave her the impression of one trying far too hard to impress.

She smiled broadly at Lucius as he climbed the few steps, her eyes crinkling as she took him in, and Lucius easily spotted the avarice behind the fake warmth.

"Mr Malfoy!" She held out her arm expectantly, and Lucius bent to kiss the back of her hand in a fluid and practiced motion, which left her with a flushed glow on her cheeks. Thankfully the two weren't too long alone, as Charles Renwick emerged from an inner room, straightening his robes, and held out his hand to shake Lucius' firmly. This man, at least, bore a genuinely pleasant smile, and managed not to blush when Lucius thanked the couple for their hospitality so soon after his arrival, and complimented their home.

"We're only happy you could come here, Lucius," Charles told him, leading him through the light, cream-walled entrance way to an airy reception room which looked on to the extensive green gardens. "What a happy coincidence that we're both here at the same time."

"Ah yes," Lucius replied calmly, faking a lack of knowledge; "Am I right in thinking that your daughter has recently left Beauxbatons?"

"She has, she has!" Antoinette cut in, her sharp French accent an assault on both men's ears. "You vill meet her, Lucius, if you vould like? Virginia is very beautiful and-"

"Antoinette!" Charles sounded appalled at his wife, but Lucius smiled as benignantly as he could manage to hide a smirk. He may not need to _court _the Renwick's daughter in secret at all.

"It would be my pleasure to meet your daughter, Antoinette," he told her, and she flushed once again at his words, rising swiftly to her feet and heading to the door, explaining as she went that she would return shortly, daughter in tow.

Charles offered Lucius a apologetic grimace as his wife swept from the room, and poured him a glass of his finest brandy before dinner, as Lucius chose to pass the time by broaching the subject of the property market in France at that time.

*.*.*.*.*

"Virginia!" Antoinette practically shrieked the minute she'd climbed the stairs to her daughter's bedroom, throwing open the door to reveal a reluctant looking Virginia, who was slipping a bookmark into the novel she'd clearly been reading. How Virginia had hoped that Mr Malfoy would be uninterested in meeting her.

"What are you vearing?!" Antoinette's eyebrows shot up to her hairline as she took in her daughter's disastrous appearance, wearing, as she was, an oversized v-neck jumper, the shade of blue a close match to that of the Beauxbatons uniform, and, even more horrific in her mother's eyes, _denim jeans_.

"I wasn't expecting to entertain this evening, Maman," she answered, her voice distinctly disappointed at having been disturbed, although as much as she'd denied it, it had been pretty much inevitable with her mother involved.

Antoinette had shut the door behind her with an impatient flick of her wand, and was now raiding Virginia's wardrobe. After a few seconds she spun on her heel and thrust a mid-length tea dress at her daughter, a pretty garment of a light green floral print. "Put zis on!" she commanded harshly, and with another hasty flick of her wand Virginia's offending jeans and jumper were gone.

"Maman!" Virginia cried, supremely irritated, and pulled the dress over her head quickly, just to cover herself. Antoinette was upon her at once, pulling the elastic from her hair and running less than gentle fingers through it before performing one of her perfected charms to leave it attractively tousled and falling over her shoulders.

Next she summoned a pair of cream kitten heels, which Virginia slipped her feet into before her mother could say another word, and with a final pinch to her cheeks to put some colour into them, Antoinette declared that her daughter was 'good enough'.

Virginia sighed, resigned to another tedious evening, as she followed her mother down the spiral staircase. Since she had left Beauxbatons she had been put through countless society evenings, all a ploy by her mother to introduce her properly to the 'right families' in France before she was put through the same ordeal on the Renwick's return to England.

She knew that her mother had been particularly excited about their guest this evening, some _Lucius Malfoy_, of whom she'd never heard before this morning. According to her mother, he was a wealthy, powerful British wizard, who had recently divorced his wife, causing scandal in England, and come to France for some space. Exactly _why_ Antoinette was so eager to meet him, and for her to meet him, she had little comprehension. Of course, her mother had been putting her in the way of a good number of eligible bachelors as of late, but surely a middle-aged, British divorcee did not fall into this category? Surely not.

"Smile, _Poussin_!" her mother snapped, her voice lower as they approached the reception room. A house-elf opened the door for them as they approached, and Virginia took a deep breath, steeling herself for the boredom to come.

As they entered, both men stood up in greeting, as was the custom of the aristocratic families. Virginia saw only her father first, as their guest was hidden behind the door. When it gently swung shut, her breath caught in her throat. She blinked twice in quick succession, as Lucius Malfoy stepped towards her, and gently took her hand, bringing it to his lips, his intense grey eyes boring into her.

She could now understand her mother's extreme excitement over this man. "A pleasure, Virginia," he said lowly, his voice velvet. A small shiver ran down her spine at the way his voice caressed her name, and she suddenly felt far more self-conscious. She was rarely addressed as Virginia like that, more often than not Mademoiselle, and to be greeted in such a manner felt strangely intimate.

"I am very pleased to meet you, Mr Malfoy," she replied, her English perfect, and he released her hand, but not after holding onto it for a beat too long. Her heart felt as if it had become lodged in her mouth, the way he was looking at her, even as her father invited him into the Dining Room - he looked at her as if she was the woman he coveted above any other. She forced herself to breath evenly as he gestured gentlemanly for her to walk in front of him through to dinner.

*.*.*.*.*

All through the meal that evening Virginia struggled to maintain some form of composure. Lucius kept up intelligent conversation with her parents, discussing the decline of the French Ministry with her father, and speaking easily of French Wizarding High Society with her mother. Virginia did not go ignored, however. Whenever there was a pause in conversation, or a course of the meal was being cleared from the table, Lucius bestowed upon Virginia such sinful looks that she was sure she was flushed from her very hairline down to her toes by the time the cheese course was laid before them. He looked at her, not as if she was the daughter of his peer and young enough to be his daughter, but as if she were a Veela, a Siren, of unbelievable beauty and altogether remarkable. His looks conveyed the apparent desire of a man who would rather strip her of her dress and ravish her on the table than discuss the economic climate of Northern France.

The dinner passed for Lucius in a tide of intellectual conversation hiding carnal desires. It had been too long since he had had the pleasure of sitting across the table from a woman such as Virginia, a woman very much available to him. And, if the tell-tale flush adorning her pale neck and chest was anything to go by, a woman who would, without too much encouragement, be more than willing. The fact that she was so young, and presumably more or less untouched, only increased Lucius' desires further and further. He admired everything about her looks, which happened by chance to be altogether dissimilar from Narcissa's. She had pretty, grey, almond-shaped eyes, which regarded him in obvious approval, set in a heart-shaped face with a soft, chiseled jaw line and small chin. Her hair, chocolate in colour, framed her face and skimmed the tops of her breasts, which were modestly yet enticingly visible in her figure-hugging dress, tight enough to show she was very much a woman, but loose enough to show she was a lady.

What was more, and even more appealing to Lucius given his recent divorce, was her mild-temperament. She engaged politely and intelligently in conversation when spoken to, but was pleasingly without the impertinence which Narcissa had acquired in their final months together. She was quick to smile, and clearly had a fondness for her father which was reciprocated with paternal affection, (if not so much for her mother), but she was not one of the silly breed of Beauxbatons girls Lucius had come across in his time, and carried herself with dignity and grace, even in the state Lucius' sinful gazes were putting her in.

*.*.*.*.*

"May I tempt you to scotch in my study, Lucius?" Charles Renwick enquired amicably at the end of the meal, as the four rose in unison.

"Or perhaps," Antoinette cut in before he could answer, "Lucius would care for a stroll in ze grounds? Ze lake is very lovely this time of year..."

Lucius smiled indulgently at Virginia's mother, and nodded in agreement. "I would very much like to see your land, so long as I won't be a burden to whomever has the duty of accompanying me." His charming smile worked wonders on Antoinette, whose wide smile revealed practically all of her teeth in her excitement.

"Virginia will take you!" she replied, barely leaving two second's silence when Lucius finished his sentence. All eyes now turned to Virginia, who was watching Lucius in an increasingly flustered state. Her mouth opened, and she nodded as the words processed in her hazy mind.

"Yes, of course. It will be no burden, Sir." Lucius' eyes darkened at being addressed as such, and he murmured his thanks embarrassingly gruffly.

They made their way to the back of the house and, leaving the elder Renwicks in the library, Virginia led Lucius out of the French doors of the Orangery and into the cool evening. The air was still humid from the heat of the day, but there was a cool breeze the closer the pair got to the lake, which Virginia was eternally grateful for.

They walked in comfortable silence for a few paces, before Lucius slipped his arm gently yet firmly around Virginia's waist, drawing her nearer to him. She swallowed but consciously tried to relax. It was not easy, given his proximity.

"May I assume," he asked, when they had paused to look out over the lake, "That a beautiful young witch like yourself is not without her suitors?"

Virginia flushed, and bit her bottom lip endearingly as she tilted her head to look up at him. She found dark eyes boring back into hers, and she shivered under Lucius' intense and obvious admiration. His age no longer mattered, his past irrelevant. She forgot even herself as he leant his head down, his lips so close to hers that they would have surely touched had she moved even an inch. His nose brushed against hers, and she shut her eyes, her heart pounding erratically.

"I am wholly unattached, Mr Malfoy," she answered breathily, and felt Lucius' smirk.

"Do you plan to keep it that way?" he asked her, his tone lascivious. Her breath quickened.

"That depends..." she replied softly, and in a beat Lucius' lips were touching hers, pressing down on her insistently yet somehow tenderly. The arm which wasn't around her waist cradled the back of her neck as he turned fluidly to face her head-on, never breaking the kiss. The heat between them was undeniable, fueled by the way that the apparently innocent young woman insisted upon pushing herself closer and closer to Lucius, almost subconsciously, which made it difficult for him to keep the air of control he was so used to, as he felt desire, hot and needy, curse through his veins.

"Come to me tonight," he commanded, breaking the kiss and looking down at her, his hands running up to the sides of her face to force her gaze right back at him. She blinked up at him, her lips slightly swollen already, her pupils black with desire.

"I shouldn't..." she said, sounding doubtful even in her modesty.

"You don't want to?" Lucius asked, eyebrow raised, knowing full well that she did.

"That's not it-"

"Then come to me."

"I-"

He silenced her with another fervent kiss, grasping a handful of her hair to tilt her head back, eliciting a moan of defeat from the girl. He pulled back abruptly, leaving her wanting. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as he looked on from half a meter away with some amusement, noting his effect on her.

"We'll go back to the house, and I'll bid your parents goodnight," he told her certainly, as if it were the obvious course of the future. "You have a Floo system in your house?" She nodded, flustered. "I will send for you tonight." Virginia's throat suddenly felt very dry, but as much as she knew she _ought to_ deny him this, she could not. She _wanted_ this, perhaps as much as he did.

He held out his arm, and she took it. "_Good girl_," he murmured, and with those two words, in Virginia's eyes at least, her fate was sealed.

**A/N: Thank you for reading! Please tell us what you thought!**


	2. His Rose Without A Thorn

**Chapter One: His Rose Without A Thorn**

***.*.*.*.***

**2 Months Later**

"Lucius, can you come here for one moment?" Virginia poked her head around the side of the open door into his office and his blue eyes darted up from the papers scattered across the large black desk shining with varnish. His eyes, however, did not stay in contact with hers for long and soon languidly admired her outfit and her body underneath as they raked down the well-fitted, drop-waist periwinkle dress, lingered on her legs, and then wrinkles up in a smirk when he finally ended on her not-so modest black heels.

"Lucius?" she pressed for his attention again, but the pleasant tingle up her spine that his look incited was well worth the wait. She couldn't believe it felt stronger every day.

"What is it, my dear?"

"I just wanted you to see how it looks…" she finished and with an affected sigh, he stood up from his desk and in a few short strides, was next to her at the door, leading her down the hall with his hand on her lower back.

"Well?" the grey-eyed beauty looked up at him, almost hoping for approval as he surveyed the room in question.

"Will your mother like it?" he looked down at her with a smile hiding definite laughter. In the time they had been together, he had ascertained that Virginia's mother seemed to hate everything she liked.

"Most likely," Virginia said, but still looked pleased with her handiwork. The room was much more airy than before, the walls now a soft blue, a few shades lighter than her dress, and the furniture was cream and feminine. To the left was a nice sitting area not dissimilar to the ones in Virginia's family home, and then the bathroom and large walk in closet, filled with Virginia's things. There were French doors leading out to a balcony and a large canopy bed. All around the room were charmed ever-booming wildflowers in clear vases. It was wholly unlike the stuffy, macabre room it used to be.

"It's beautiful, Virginia, but you won't be spending much time in here…" Lucius complimented her, but his eyes lit again on the bed and suddenly the hand on the small of her back dipped a bit lower, "Except, I can actually think of a few uses for it right now."

An involuntary, anticipatory noise squeaked out of Virginia and with a low chuckle, Lucius bent his head even lower and captured her lips in a kiss that made his less-than-innocent intentions very clear. Virginia moved her body to press against his and opened her legs a bit to wrap one around his own, pressing her calf against the back of his knee and causing his pelvis to move exactly where she needed it. Lucius could feel the spike of her very expensive heel against his leg and it turned him on, even more so when she started eliciting sweet, slightly hesitant little moans. He loved that even though they had been sleeping together since the night they met, he still made her nervous. With exacting clarity, Lucius still remembered their first night together and how she had come to him as she promised, even though it seemed to go against every straight-laced, proper fiber of her person. He remembered her rosebud lips opening in pain and pleasure the first time he entered her and stole the virginity he was sure was previously well guarded by her parents and Beauxbatons. The memory of her writhing below him as he brought her to orgasm was seared so perfectly across his mind he knew he never could forget it. Nor did he want to. But she was young still, newly eighteen and although eager to please him and had come a long way since their first coupling (although in Lucius' eyes, she had been plenty graced with skill at it) she was still soft in her touches, and reserved at making the first moves.

With her body locked against his, Lucius easily moved her to the edge of the bed and pressed her against it as he moved his kisses from her lips to the shell of her ear and down her neck, his hot breathes making the baby hairs there stand on end. Although he was too busy nipping softly at her delicate collar bone to see it, he could feel Virginia let her head drop back in pleasure. He took her submission to his advantage and slowly slid his body on top of her, making sure to press the erection in his trousers flush to her stomach as he positioned them so they were both on top of the plush bed.

He parted from her, briefly looking over her flushed face and her gorgeous chocolate hair spread out around her, falling over her shoulders, before placing his hands on her lower thigh and with one quick movement, had her dress up around her hips. She wriggled slightly under him, protesting his absence from her mouth, "Lucius, _come here_," she breathed in desperation. Having only his hands on her legs was not enough and everything about him was driving her mad: the dark look in his eye, the way he unashamedly grasped himself from outside of his trousers and groaned before unbuttoning them, and the dominant and slightly presumptuous way he pushed her legs further apart with his knees.

"No, I need you _now_," he said, already pushing her girlish swiss dot panties to the side and holding himself right at her entrance. He didn't know if it was the excitement of having her live with him as his mistress, not having to sneak around her parents, or just how perfectly doll-like and beautiful she looked below him, but he couldn't hold out. Virginia was so ready from anticipation that he slipped inside of her easily, finally leaning back over her and capturing her lips once again.

Lucius Malfoy wasn't a man that wanted for anything. Once he had set his sights on Virginia Renwick, he knew he would possess her, and so he did. When she awoke in his arms after their first night together, he made it very clear to her that if she so wanted, she would be his mistress. Although she blushed at the thought, in a school-girl way he found both erotic and endearing, she agreed instantly.

With discretion on both of their parts coming from growing up pureblood and being well-versed in how to behave in society, Lucius and Virginia continued the more 'adult' aspects of their relationship in secret when they could manage, and Lucius began to openly court Virginia in front of her parents, much to the joy of Antoinette. Charles Renwick, on the other hand, was a bit concerned that his daughter seemed so infatuated with a man his own age, and especially because that man was just coming off a society-wide scandal in England. But he loved his daughter dearly, and so, welcomed Lucius into their home at least on a bi-weekly basis, and sometimes Lucius had the Renwicks over to his own estate not far off.

To Virginia's parents, and French Wizarding Society, everything seemed proper and innocent between Lucius and Virginia. He always acted the gentleman towards her, and she always presented herself as a well-bred lady. But behind their smiles at the dinner table, they spoke with their eyes. Virginia learned how to give her own version of seductive looks to Lucius, turning his very first tactic back on himself. Thus, the pair spent many an evening in the darkest corners of the gardens, or tucked away with plenty of precautionary spells in one or the other's bedrooms.

Over the course of the budding relationship, Lucius gained one of the other things he was after, albeit it had become of secondary importance. He had hoped during his stay in France that he would make a business partner out of Charles Renwick, and one month into his retreat from England, he did. Mr Renwick, one of the leading suppliers of Sal Ammoniac, was all too eager to start a joint-venture with Lucius to try and gain a monopoly on some of the rarest potions ingredients in the world. It brought Charles deep into his confidence and when, a month later still, when he was planning a return to England and invited Virginia along indefinitely, it helped her father to agree.

Lucius knew he couldn't stay away from England forever, and if he was honest with himself, missed Wiltshire and seeing his son, albeit that was a rare occasion in itself. When he proposed the idea to Virginia while languorously lying in bed one morning with her, she couldn't have been happier.

Arrangements were made and for the few days before departing, Virginia packed with her mother (who now suddenly was not calling her _Poussin_ at all waking moments because she was under the impression her daughter might be wed to the gorgeous and utterly wealthy man at any given time) and beamed constantly.

When the day finally came, Charles had a long talk with Lucius over expensive brandy about how much his daughter meant to him, and how much trust he was putting in his friend, and now business-partner, in letting her go with him until they themselves were back in England. Lucius, with his unmatched charm and smoothness of voice that could talk away any worry, promised he knew the importance of Virginia's virtue with a seamless lie. The Renwicks were also assured by him of the seriousness of his courtship with her, as neither of her parents had any desire for their lovely daughter to receive a black mark in society by being the mistress of a recently divorced man. Intention of marriage was the only way he could convince them to let her leave France.

Little did they know, his mistress was exactly what she was, and rather content in being.

Although Malfoy Manor was a bit intimidating for Virginia at first, she soon grew exceedingly fond of it-loving the mystery and grandeur that it was steeped in, just like Lucius himself. He had allowed her to re-decorate some of the rooms (like the one they were currently in) because he knew that was what girls of her background liked to do now and again, and he needed a clean slate from some of Narcissa's tastes. Virginia was happy with the tasks, as they made her feel a bit more than a mere mistress, and the pretense of them sleeping in separate rooms needed to be kept up, for when her parents inevitably visited. However, Lucius knew though that there would not be a night when he wouldn't want Virginia by his side.

It had been a relatively short time since they had returned, but he was happy with Virginia in his home. It felt comfortable and even a bit domestic, but without the real ties of marriage and the banality of it all. Virginia began to go out and do things she liked and he was kept busy with his many business undertakings, but the absences, even if short, made the sex that much better each night.

Lucius was handsome, charming, wealthy, funny in a dry way, an amazing lover, and in unexpected moments-surprisingly tender. It was not hard for Virginia to fall for him. She found that sitting across from him during breakfast made her feel important, that his frequent, lavish gifts made her feel cherished, and the way his body moved with her made her feel womanly and desired. She lived her new life in Wilshire in a very happy daze, hoping for it to stay that way, and happy with the arrangement because even though the term 'mistress' had been slightly demeaning at first, she enjoyed having a place in his life.

There was not a happier man that could be found in England since Lucius had returned with Virginia. Curt, brisk, and intimidating were still words that described him in his business dealings, but he smiled more-a small smile-but it graced his chiseled face more often. Virginia Renwick was everything Lucius needed in a mistress. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that, and very sweet and willing. She was clearly well-educated and even for being so young, was able to converse with him easily about any number of things. She was also well-liked, and many a man seemed to be upset that she was his. This was something that Lucius liked particularly. She was the jewel of her Beauxbaton's graduating class and a darling of pureblood society and Lucius greatly enjoyed knowing he had the best, as he had never had anything less.

*.*.*.*.*

"_And there goes Jenkins! Straight through the middle hoop and that's 50-40 Cannons_!" the Quidditch announcer, Filbus Gadwin shouted with his magically magnified voice to the crowd at the Yorkshire Moors stadium. The match had already gone on for two hours and was terribly slow and brutal, as the competition was fiercely matched and the snitch seemed to have disappeared altogether.

Lucius Malfoy was sitting in the top box at the stadium, bored out of his skull, having only been convinced to go by the man next to him as a 'thank you'. The man, Hector Fitzhaggus, the current Supreme Mugwump, had found the vacation property of his dreams in France thanks to Lucius, who had also successfully dabbled in the market while there and was now selling off ridiculously massive properties to the Wizarding World's who's-who. Fitzhaggus has insisted Lucius join him to watch the match and of course, he had graciously accepted.

Lucius liked Quidditch, but he didn't actively follow it and had no favorite team. All he hoped was that the Holyhead Harpies would crush the Cannons, as he found their orange robes garish and irritating and their playing decidedly lacking. Today, however, they were on a miracle streak of luck that seemed to be driving the Harpies mad.

"_Oh! But look there! Delaney grabs the quaffle, doubles back and-Oh-there's her signature move right there, backwards loop hanging off the broom by her ankles and score! Left hoop. She tied it up_!" the announcer once again shouted, interrupting Lucius's conversation. When the girl scored four more times in succession, he finally looked up to see her intercept a quaffle thrown between two of the Cannon's players and dodge what would have been a disastrous bludger.

"_And Weasley caught the snitch! That's the game_!"

The roar was deafening and Lucius honestly couldn't believe the amount of uncivilized fans covered in body-paint, whooping for the girls on the Harpies. He was eager to leave and get home to Virginia but Fitzhaggus insisted that he stayed a bit longer to meet the team.

They watched, along with the other elite in the top box, as the Harpies did a victory lap around the stadium and Lucius recognized the flaming hair of the youngest Weasley, holding the snitch triumphantly in her hand.

*.*.*.*.*

"Nice game, Gin!" Lacey said, patting her best friend on the back before stripping off her robes once the team entered the locker room in the stadium. She walked over to her locker, emblazoned with her name and number 17, and shrugged off the sweaty garment before taking off the rest of her clothes and throwing her long hair quickly up into a messy bun. A few friendly slaps on the arse came her way by the Harpies twin beaters, Leanne and Lita, and everyone was proud of the win. Lacey jumped into the showers, freshened up, and changed into a form fitting navy blue dress for the press interviews they had to attend in the top box. The jersey knit clung to her curves but fell just above her knee and was more modest than things that she usually wore and she quickly dried her hair with her wand and slicked on some lipstick before joining the rest of her team members and heading out to the pitch.

Lacey Delaney was still in shock that this was her life. Playing professional Quidditch was something she had wanted to do all throughout Hogwarts, and she had gotten her chance merely a year and a half after graduating. She was still, along with Ginny Weasley, the rookie on the team, but her performance that season was gaining her plenty of press and recognition. She was always surprised at the number of young girls that showed up to the matches with their parents, wanting her autograph, or the number of people who cheered when she scored. She was always the one lagging behind in times like this because she wanted to sign every last bit of Harpies merchandise thrown at her, but soon she was dragged up the many flights of stairs to the top box to greet the flash of Daily Prophet cameras.

"_And here you have them, ladies and gentleman, the Holyhead Harpies_!" the announcer had been relocated to the top box, but thankfully without his amplified voice, and the team of girls soon began taking pictures and shaking hands with the wealthy and powerful. Lacey made her way down the line of a dozen or so fancily dressed wizards and witches, slightly dazed and smiling as much as she could, until she was shocked out of the routine by a very firm grasp on her hand, prompting her to really look at the man before her.

"You did quite an impressive job today," his voice was cool and the way his eyebrows raised made Lacey unsure if he was mocking her in some slight way.

"Thanks, I just go out there and play my best…" she smiled at him, trying to take her hand away but he wouldn't let go.

"Lacey Delaney, I'm Lucius Malfoy," he said simply and the funny feeling that she recognized him finally made sense. She should have realized that his perfectly straight, long blonde hair was a dead giveaway and had a fleeting thought back to his son at Hogwarts.

"You probably already know that your reputation precedes you, but it's nice to meet you all the same," she told him, now forcefully wrenching her hand away from him and with a tilt of her head to the side and a smirky smile, she was off to mingle somewhere else in the room.

Fitzhaggus remarked passingly about the teams' stats, but Lucius was not listening. His light blue eyes were watching the way Lacey Delaney flitted about the room exuberantly. He took in her thick, messy, wavy dark brown hair, her very tall frame-slim and fit from her profession with dangerously long legs, but curves that made her dress hug her body enticingly, and the large smile that filled nearly half of her oval face. She seemed the centerpiece of the room, but the feature that Lucius had found most fascinating about her was that her eyes were nearly the exact same shade of light, crystalline blue as his-and it was intriguing.

He found he couldn't stop staring at the star Chaser, and soon after quickly took his leave from the Supreme Mugwump and apparated back to his Wiltshire Manor, feeling very odd.

**A/N: Thank you for reading, please leave us a review!**


	3. The Thrill of the Chase

**A/N: A sincere thanks from both of us for reading, reviewing, and favoriting this story. It means so much to us and we really hope you continue to tell us what you think. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Two: The Thrill of the Chase**

***.*.*.*.***

"What _the fuck_ is this?"

Lacey Delaney stared indignantly down at the slip of thick, expensive-feeling parchment in her hand, ignoring the tawny owl which was still hovering, awaiting its reward for the successfully delivered message.

"How does he even know where I live?"

The message had arrived out of the blue, a couple of days after the Cannons v. Harpies match, just as Lacey was planning on heading out to meet Ginny and a couple of team mates for drinks at the Leaky. She could practically hear his arrogant, aristocratic intonations as she read it:

_Miss Delaney,_

_It was my pleasure to meet you after the match the other night, although I fear that I didn't make as much of an impression upon you as I perhaps hoped I might. _

_I would very much like to have the chance to speak less formally with you. May I tempt you to dinner?_

_L. Malfoy_

"What in hell's name does Malfoy want to talk to me about?" she asked out loud, finally noting the owl and reaching up to a handily-placed jar to fetch a treat for it.

Lacey couldn't help feeling very uneasy about anything to do with Lucius Malfoy. She hadn't heard anything about him since her Hogwarts days, but after their short exchange of words in the top box at the stadium, the Chaser had made a couple of subtle enquiries about the man and learnt of his recent divorce. Rumour had it that he'd returned from his escape to France with a young Beauxbaton graduate who he was living with, supposedly with a view to marrying her, although Lacey couldn't imagine why any woman in her right mind would want to have anything to do with the ex-Death Eater, let alone live in his house with him.

Trying to put the note out of her mind, she grabbed her old Gryffindor scarf to guard against the cold winds and made for the door of her modest apartment, crumpling the parchment into a ball and pushing it deep within her jeans pocket with a shake of her head.

***.*.*.*.***

"Virginia, my dear, I'm going to the Ministry. I'll be back for dinner." Virginia looked up from her writing desk with a smile at the figure of her lover, hovering in the door frame of her newly decorated room. There was nothing unusual about his words or timing, but she could detect a slight edge to his tone; he sounded more distant than usual.

Virginia rose from her chair and made her way across to him, her concerns heightened when he didn't rake his eyes over her visible cleavage in the new dress he'd had made for her earlier that week, or the way she her hips swayed in their naturally enticing manner as she walked. "Is everything alright, Sir?" she asked sweetly, deliberately referring to him as such because she had learned early on in their relationship how much he liked it, and she placed the flat of her palm against his chest, pulling him a little closer to her.

A smirk briefly graced Lucius' lips, but the expression didn't reach his eyes, and when he ran a hand down her bare arm and leant in to kiss her, it was such a chaste affair that Virginia could do nothing but wonder what on earth had happened to the Lucius she knew.

"Of course, pet." This was even more disturbing to Virginia - there was clearly _something_ wrong, and Lucius had always used her as a sounding-board when something didn't go his way, coming to rely on her soothing responses and gentle caresses, making him feel like the powerful wizard he needed to feel like. _Maybe he's upset with me..._ she thought anxiously, but before she could say anything else, Lucius had turned away from her, and was telling her over his shoulder to behave and to be ready for dinner at eight as he strode down the corridor.

In actual fact, unbeknownst to Virginia, Lucius was simply pre-occupied. Ever since he had met Lacey Delaney a few nights ago, he couldn't seem to shake her from his mind. He had done his research, of course, and found that he had become only further intrigued by the young witch the more he read of her Ministry file. As much as he was enamored with Virginia, and certainly wasn't finding her lacking in any way, he wasn't used to being so _monogamous_, and part of him still longed for the thrill of the chase which he had rather missed out at the start of his affair with Virginia.

Lucius was also growing frustrated, albeit in quite a delicious way. He had sent a message to Lacey, restraining himself from grimacing at the thought of sending his prize owl to the slum of a place her file claimed she resided in, but had, as of yet, received no reply. This was simply unacceptable. But it only made him more intrigued about the impertinent Miss Delaney.

"Charlotte," he snapped upon entering his offices at the Ministry, and his nervous looking assistant almost knocked over a chair as she hurried after him, notebook and pen at the ready to scribble down his orders.

"The file you found me on Monday," he started before she'd even shut the door behind her, "Had only the basic facts about Miss Delaney. I'd like more information. Get me notes on her friends, acquaintances, where she goes, what she does when she's not playing Quidditch." Charlotte nodded quickly, jotting down his words with a pen which made an irritating scratching noise at it moved along the paper. "And find me information about her past-boyfriends. I want everything." He dismissed her with a flick of his hand - rude, maybe, but anyone who worked with him, (other than his closest business partners), was used to it.

Lucius smirked absently as he set about his business for the afternoon. _Oh yes, he would have her_. Lucius Malfoy wanted for nothing. He was determined. He'd have Lacey Delaney begging on her knees by the end of the month, no matter how she dared to ignore him now.

*.*.*.*.*

"Lace, these just came for you..."

"Cheers, Jocie," Lacey called, although her teammate was already heading back out on to the pitch at a brisk jog.

Lacey wiped a towel over her forehead, sticky from her laps around the Quidditch pitch that morning, as she eyed the bouquet of flowers warily. _Red poppies_. Who on earth would know to send her those?

"The _fuck_?" she almost growled, tearing open the sealed card attached to the front of the bouquet, and recognizing the distinctive handwriting and Malfoy seal at once.

_Miss Delaney,_

_I fear you did not receive my previous message? Or perhaps you've been too busy to reply..._

She could just hear the sardonic smirk in his voice.

_I would like to congratulate you on your most recent victory - Puddlemere stood no chance against the Harpies' star Chaser. I'm only sorry I wasn't there in person to witness your impressive skill a second time. _

_Dinner?_

_L. Malfoy_

"What _does _he want?" she huffed, slamming the note down.

"Alright, Lace?" Ginny asked, entering the changing room and throwing her flaming hair up in a make-shift ponytail as she took in her friend's clenched jaw and narrowed blue eyes, which were never a good sign.

"Did Malfoy-the-Elder talk to you the other night, after the Cannons game?" Lacey enquired, trying to sound as if she was changing the subject.

Ginny pulled her Harpies shirt over her head before she answered, completely unbothered by appearing topless in front of her oldest and closest friend. "No," she replied, "Well, he sort of nodded at me, and said 'Good game,' or something like that, but I moved on to the next rich git pretty quickly."

Lacey laughed, although her friend's answer didn't put her mind any more at ease.

"Why?" Ginny asked, although Lacey had unrealistically hoped she wouldn't.

"He just...He's sent me two owls since then. I don't know what he wants."

"Two owls?" Ginny's eyebrows shot up as she continued getting changed. "What did they say?"

"He's asking me to dinner," Lacey admitted, realizing that she wouldn't be able to keep this from Ginny for much longer anyway.

"Shit," Ginny breathed, sounding genuinely shocked. "You haven't agreed, have you?"

"No, of course not! I've ignored both of his messages. But now he's sent me these..." She gestured to the poppies with an indignant stab of her finger in their direction. "He knew my address, he knows my favourite flowers-"

"Stalker!" Ginny interjected with a laugh, eying the bouquet dubiously. "Maybe you ought to meet him?"

"You're kidding!"

Ginny shrugged, beginning to apply mascara in the mirror to Lacey's left. "Aren't you sort of intrigued? I mean, he's an arrogant bastard-"

"He's worse than that!"

"Maybe, but I for one want to know what he's up to. I thought he was with some French tart anyway?" Lacey sighed. If she relented to dinner, he might just stop chasing after her after all.

"Fine," she agreed reluctantly, and Ginny smirked as she pouted at herself in the mirror, preparing to apply lip gloss. Lacey took out the crumpled and slightly torn piece of parchment of Malfoy's first message from the bottom of her pocket, and, boycotting his pretentious tone and style, wrote one word:

_When?_

*.*.*.*.*

"Bedroom. _Now." _Virginia had barely had a chance to look up before Lucius had disappeared from the doorway and was, presumably, making for his bedroom. It was only a quarter-to-eight, they hadn't even had dinner yet, Virginia mused, pulling her hair from the tight confines of its up-do, a look she'd adopted to take her bath. She knew how Lucius preferred her hair down, and judging from his abrupt summons he was in no mood to be crossed that evening.

She hurried across the house to his quarters in his wake, the familiar tingling beginning deep in her abdomen, and before she could even knock on his door, Lucius had pulled her inside, and pushed her up against back of the door. His lips crushed against hers, forcing his tongue into her mouth, as Virginia attempted to find a comfortable position, being held up, as she was, between the hard muscles of Lucius' chest and the mahogany door frame.

"Lucius..." she breathed, quite taken aback by his rough treatment of her so early in the evening, but aroused to say the least.

Lucius wasted no time in slipping a hand between Virginia's legs, and cupped her firmly, stroking a finger up and down the outside of her panties, which were damp already.

"You're to do exactly as I say this evening," he told her, his mouth close to the shell of her ear, his voice hoarse. "Do you understand?"

Virginia nodded, whimpering as Lucius tugged almost painfully on a handful of her hair. "Yes, Sir," she corrected herself.

"Good girl..." He used the soft hair in his grasp to tilt her head back, and Virginia's mouth went dry at the look of pure lust in his darkened eyes. Lucius covered her mouth with his, thrusting against her so that she was pushed uncomfortably against the door knob for a brief moment, before he swept an arm under her legs and carried her swiftly across the room, setting her down on top of the silk covers of his bed.

Lucius took a step back, beginning to shed himself of his robes. "Touch yourself," he practically growled at her, "I want to watch you."

Virginia's mouth fell open, in a way which Lucius, had he not been so utterly and irreversibly turned on, would have found endearing, one of her innocent charms. As it was, however, he was in no state to be disobeyed.

"You're testing my patience, my darling," he said, his voice low and his aristocratic tones more clipped than usual. Virginia recognized the semblance of control which meant his tether was near its end. She felt a further fluttering deep inside her at his tone, and vaguely wondered if there was something wrong with her to be in affected like that by his harsh and rather patronizing tone. Still, he had never asked her to do _that_ before, and she frankly felt uncomfortable proceeding.

"_Do it, Virginia_," he hissed, looming over her in only his boxers and swiftly pulling her satin dress up over her head. His erection strained even more uncomfortably as he realized she'd been wearing no bra, but he'd given an order and he'd be damned if she didn't give him what he wanted. He'd spent the day royally frustrated with most everybody at the Ministry, and Charlotte had yet to produce a single new piece of information about Lacey Delaney. Furthermore, the woman herself had yet to return his owl. He _would_ be obeyed in this.

Tentatively, Virginia moved to do as he'd told her, although she was completely unsure of what exactly he wanted her to do. She skimmed her hands over her stomach, and slid one under the lace of her panties, her eyes fixed on Lucius. He made a predatory noise in his throat as she stopped.

"Keep going, pet," he commanded, voice strained, grasping himself through his boxers as he watched her.

"I don't know how to..." Virginia began and trailed off, and Lucius shut his eyes briefly, inhaling deeply. If it was possible, his eyes were even darker when he opened them again.

"Bring one hand up to your breast," he told her, and she did so without question, desperate to please him, although wishing dreadfully that he would just touch her himself. "Take your nipple - yes, like that, - and roll it between your fingers." Both groaned in want as she did what he told her.

"Now rub yourself with your other hand, as I would. Don't stop, Virginia," he instructed her, his voice carrying a warning edge which told her that doing anything else would carry serious consequences. And she loved it. She loved the dominating force to his voice, the way he looked at her.

Lucius watched her as she continued to rub herself for a couple of minutes, stroking his hard length and reveling in her soft moans and whimpers when he told her to tug on her sensitive nipples. In the end, however, it all became too much for him to bear. He lunged forwards at the bed, leaving his last remaining item of clothing on the floor, and covered her writhing body with his. Virginia was beyond thrilled that he'd decided to join her.

He pressed her back into the mattress when her back arched to meet him, and pulled her soaking panties down her legs, tossing them aside impatiently. Without being told to, Virginia spread her legs wide for him, disregarding her natural modesty and embarrassment, which had disappeared by this point, and her lover was quick to take his place between them.

Lucius grasped her wrists firmly, and pulled them up to rest beside her head. "You are _mine_," he growled, his face inches from hers, and in the back of her mind Virginia wondered what had made him so possessive this evening - not that she minded, far from it. In her mind, she _was_ his. He lined his achingly hard cock up with her entrance, and with one forceful thrust sheathed himself completely inside of her. The sound Virginia made was a sort of pleasured mewl, and Lucius quickly slammed into her again, eliciting a garbled version of his name as she screamed out in pleasure. He fucked her with long strokes, groaning as he took her quickly over the edge, and finding his own release soon afterwards. He held her arms down as he came, wanting to be in complete control right until the very last moment.

Virginia was panting and covered in a light sheen of perspiration as he rolled off her, and pulled her towards him so that her head was resting on his chest. He leant forward and kissed her hair, the tender action at odds with everything which had transpired moments ago.

"Are you alright, pet?" he asked softly, concern evident in his voice although he sounded out of breath. He had been rough with her before in the two months they'd been together, and knew that she enjoyed his dominant nature, but never before had it been like _that_ - in all honesty, Lucius wasn't entirely sure what had come over him.

"Just a little sore, Sir," she murmured in answer, reassuring him as she so easily could about any matter. In that moment, Lucius felt luckier than he ever had to have this beautiful young witch in his arms, accepting him completely.

Virginia lay comfortably on his chest, absently stroking his muscled arm, until her heart beat had returned to normal, and she felt a little cooler. She twisted gently in his arms, propping her chin up to look at him. His eyes were shut, and he looked refreshingly peaceful. She kissed his lips softly, smiling as he cupped her neck tenderly.

"Is everything alright, Lucius?" she asked quietly, echoing her words from that morning. This time he didn't pull away from her, but opened his eyes, meeting her gaze with ill-disguised adoration.

"I had a bothersome day. There are some infuriating people around."

"Is there anything I can do?" she asked, gently cupping his cheek with her small hand, genuinely unaware she'd already given her lover exactly what he needed.

"You've given me more than I could have reasonably hoped for this evening, my dear," he replied, sitting up and pulling her with him. "What say you to dinner?"

*.*.*.*.*

"Owl for Master!" Lucius' house elf Lexi called, bowing sporadically to Lucius as she crossed the Dining Room to pass him a horrendously crumpled piece of parchment.

"Heavens," Virginia murmured at the sight of it, and missed Lucius' sharp intake of breath as he recognized his own handwriting on the note he'd sent two days ago to Miss Delaney. He tried to be subtle in holding the note out of Virginia's line of sight, lacking the self-restraint to wait until he was alone to read her reply.

"Is someone writing to you from a rubbish tip, Lucius?" she joked, and he let out a chuckle, largely ignoring what she was saying. The smirk which spread across his lips was from the reply he found scrawled on the back of his original note:

_When?_

*.*.*.*.*

**A/N: Will Virginia be suspicious of the note? How will Lacey react when she has dinner with Lucius? Let us know what you think in a review! More to come soon!**


	4. Wanting What You Can't Have

**A/N: We both want to thank you for your reviews and favorites. They really mean a lot to us. Tell your friends too! And if you haven't already, please check out our respective stories: "Love is a Ruthless Game" and "How to be a Heartbreaker"! Thanks and enjoy!**

**Chapter 3: Wanting What You Can't Have**

***.*.*.*.***

"Well, who is it from?" Virginia's curious voice and wide grey eyes centered Lucius back on the present- the dinner in front of him and his lovely mistress. He quickly folded the note and slipped it into the breast pocket of his jacket under his robes. Regardless of what they had been doing previously, Lucius always made sure that dinner was formal affair, as he loved to see Virginia in the gorgeous dresses he was having tailored to fit the curves of her body perfectly.

"An old friend," Lucius lied smoothly, "He's never been very fastidious with his stationary."

The strange note quickly left Virginia's mind as she focused on the sumptuous meal in front of her, and they ate in comfortable silence for a while, as she thought about what had transpired in Lucius' bedroom. She felt a blush creep up her neck to her cheeks as she remembered, but it wasn't something that could be helped. Virginia had never done something so dirty before, but she had liked it, and more than that, loved the way it had pleased Lucius.

"Something wrong, my dear?" he arched an eyebrow at her delicate, flushed face but she shook her head.

"Not at all." Her reply was soft and she lowered her eyes demurely.

However, Lucius knew exactly what was bothering her, and it was enough to make him consider taking her back to his bedroom that very minute. He had to use all of his willpower not to do just that, and after their late dinner was finished he gave Virginia a lingering kiss 'goodnight' and retired to his study.

When he was sure he wouldn't be disturbed, he pulled the crumpled note out of his pocket and smoothed it out before him on his desk. He studied the curves of the writing, as it was something he had always found interesting-a way to tell so much about a person just from how they moved their hand.

Lacey's 'when' was large, the thickness of the lines was uneven, and her letters slanted slightly to the left. She was definitely not neat by any means, and the haphazard scribble suggested Lucius was probably in for more than he bargained for with the girl, but something pushed him forward in his bizarre pursuit of her. Lucius had no real need for her, but he knew he wouldn't be satisfied until he had her.

Thinking carefully about his reply, he readied a fresh sheet of parchment and wrote:

Is tomorrow evening, 8 o'clock, at the Tavern agreeable to you?

L. Malfoy

He folded the note, sealed it with the Malfoy crest in forest green wax, and sent it off. As it was late already, he hardly expected a reply that night, but couldn't help pacing the length of his study for the better part of an hour thinking about Lacey, and subsequently, Virginia.

Part of Lucius hoped that once he met Lacey for dinner, that he might tempt her to bed and promptly get her out of his system. It would certainly make things less complicated with Virginia, and from what he had seen of Lacey, although she was sexy, she clearly lacked the refinement he was used to. _But still…_

Lucius went back and forth with himself until it was well past midnight. Deciding to put the issue to rest for the time being, he made his way to his bedroom and found his Virginia sleeping peacefully.

***.*.*.*.***

"You know Gin, Harry's about as thick as champ if he can't see what he has in you," Lacey looked up at her oldest friend, slurring her words a bit.

"True, but maybe it's time you ease up a bit on the whiskey for the night. As your captain, I don't want to have to watch your sorry hung over arse mope around the pitch tomorrow. Got it?" Ginny tried to take on her very best authoritative tone as she took an extra hearty swig of her own highball of firewhiskey. It was a little before midnight and the two best friends were sitting in Lacey's small apartment on her even smaller bed, drinking and gossiping. Lacey picked up one of her well-worn pillows and hit Ginny playfully with it, causing the red-head's drink to slosh about.

"_Hey!_"

"Well, listen to me alright? I don't care if I'm hung over tomorrow, I have to drink to get up the nerve to tell you this…but your boyfriend is a bloody wanker. You know he's shagging every pair of tits from here to Wales! You deserve better Ginny…"

"Oh, we both know you have plenty of nerve without the drink Lace. And what about you? You had my brother! Harry may or may not be fucking around on me, but I know a good thing when I see one and I've seen it since 6th year. _You_, though…" Ginny narrowed her eyes in what she hoped was a scary way, but it just caused Lacey to lose her head laughing.

"Fred wanted to settle me down and impregnate me as quickly as he could," Lacey's words came in between laughs, "You know I loved him, still do, but you should know better than anyone that to me, 'commitment' might as well be added to the list of Unforgivables."

"You have a soft spot in there somewhere Lacey, at least I hope so for the next man who falls in love with you," Ginny smirked but paused in her teasing when she heard a tapping on the small window above Lacey's dresser.

"Rubbish," the brunette finished before glancing curiously at the window, barely able to make out the silhouette of an owl, before hopping off the bed with her drink still in hand to let the bird in.

The second it entered the small room, it dropped a sealed letter on her bed and flew around the room gracefully before perching on her nightstand where a half-eaten tin of biscuits sat. With a quick pat to the head of what Lacey deemed the most beautiful owl she had ever seen, she picked up the note and ripped it open.

"I recognize that owl…it's the one that came today at the pitch…so that means you actually replied to him?" Ginny's eyes widened as she peered over her friends' shoulder to see Lucius Malfoy's handwriting, "Shite, so this is really happening?"

Lacey read the simple note over and over again, but it didn't change the meaning. Tomorrow she would be going on a date with Lucius Malfoy, and she still didn't have the slightest idea why she even owled him back in the first place. His pushiness had gotten on her nerves, and she truthfully had no idea what he would want with her, "Looks like it."

"Well, are you actually gonna go?" Ginny asked, suddenly all business. She sat her whiskey down and changed positions on the bed so she was sitting crossed-legged in front of Lacey. Patting her palms on her thighs in commencement of the conversation, she warily suggested, "You know…maybe it's best if you don't…"

"You were the one that encouraged me in the first place!"

"I didn't encourage you, I just thought answering might chill him out!"

"Well, now you've done it!"

Both girls sat in heated silence for a moment with the letter in between them until finally Lacey reached for a pen, "I promised, and Delaney's always keep their word. And besides, what's the harm in a little fun with the man? It's a free meal after all…" She knew she couldn't get out of it, and figured she might as well make the best of it.

"The problem is that it isn't just a free meal. I'm just as curious about this whole thing as you are, but you know what he wants, right?" Ginny pushed back her hair and lifted her chin up with a smart look on her face, as if she was suddenly the guru of all dating advice.

"Do enlighten me," Lacey laughed, finishing off her drink with a gulp slightly too big, causing her to cough as the burning firewhiskey raced down her throat.

"He wants to shag you into next week," Ginny said simply, not sure if she liked the idea of the Malfoy patriarch after her best friend, but it _was_ amusing in her current, inebriated state, even if it wouldn't be so tomorrow.

"Well that just makes things more interesting doesn't it?" Lacey suddenly smirked, and her best friend could tell she was developing some sort of plan.

"How so?" Ginny abandoned her sitting position and flopped down on her side, snuggling drunkenly into the sheets.

"Well…I mean, don't you want to know what's going on with him? After all of the awful things he did in the war he disappears for years, finally resurfaces with even _more_ money to his name and a pardoned record, gets a divorce, runs off to France, and now is supposedly set to marry some sickeningly young French bird? Helluva story, I'd say. And I want to know it," Lacey leaned over to her nightstand to grab the firewhiskey bottle and top her and Ginny off, "And it's going to be priceless to refuse him when he wants me to put out."

"But what if he manages to charm you?"

"Lucius Malfoy?" Lacey snorted, which only caused Ginny to fall into another peal of laughter, "Blonde, disgustingly rich, and Slytherin? Not my type."

Ginny's smirk crept up her face until the faintest wrinkles formed by her eyes, "Weren't you just telling me the other day that you wanted to start dating men different from your 'type'?"

"And what's my type then, Weasley?"

"Piss-poor, mediocre Quidditch players," Ginny answered and saw her friend about to protest, but stopped her, "And don't argue it…you know it's true…you know you are a control freak and can't date a man that would ever be better at you than Quidditch, let alone anything! Look Lace, this whole thing with Lucius is a bit sketchy, but I do think you should start trying to date guys that are a little more different than you, that can offer you something more. And when I mean date, I mean more than just shagging…"

"Since when did you get so bloody philosophical?" Lacey's eyebrows furrowed and she crossed her arms, "You make it out like I'm some slag!"

"Lace!" Ginny groaned, "You aren't a slag. You know the benefits of a well-handled hook up and I respect that, but you've only seriously dated two guys. Two best friends. Two carbon copies of each other minus the hair color. Just promise me while you are out with Lucius trying to pry all of his deepest, darkest secrets out of him, that you might keep an eye out for a bloke. The Tavern's the real deal, it's always crawling with Ministry hot-shots. You never know…"

Lacey thought about it for a second, and although she wasn't entirely convinced, Ginny did have a point. "Alright, deal. Now the only question is, what am I going to wear?"

***.*.*.*.***

"Darling I have a dinner meeting tonight and I won't be home until very late. Try your best to behave yourself and find something to occupy your time. And don't wait up for me, understood?" Lucius ordered as he stood in the doorway to Virginia's room. He watched her at her vanity applying a hint of makeup and although he could only see her reflection in the mirror, he saw disappointment flit across her refined features. She turned around and looked at him with innocent eyes and slightly parted lips, "I wish you didn't have to."

Virginia regretted the words even before she finished speaking them, but it was how she felt inside. That morning had been lovely; she had awoken in Lucius' arms and their cuddling had turned into passionate sex, but when they were finished he vanished for a while and was now standing rigidly by her door, keeping his distance. His behavior simply didn't make sense.

"So do I, Virginia. Have a lovely day," Lucius finished and with a small smile, disappeared out of her line of vision and headed directly into the office. This time his previously underprepared secretary was waiting for him, bouncing on the balls of her heels in nervousness.

"Mr Malfoy," Charlotte began, her arms laden with thick files. Lucius simply walked right past her into his office, signaling her to follow with a jerk of his serpent-headed cane. She walked in anxiously, closing the door behind her as he sat down at his desk and started looking over some paperwork left there for him.

"Sir…I have what you requested about Miss Delaney…" her voice was a flighty squeak.

"Read it to me, I have a meeting in ten, which you should know, because you scheduled it…" he snapped, in no mood to be crossed. When he had discovered Lacey's answer on the desk of his study that morning, a sudden rush of guilt had hit him. He cared about Virginia immensely, more than he thought he would, and part of him didn't like lying to her. The other part of him, the one desperate to hear the information about Lacey and see her for dinner, mocked him for being so emotional. It gave him a thrill to want something he shouldn't, and although he feigned indifference and perused the papers before him without really reading them, Charlotte's words about Lacey enraptured him.

"Well, she seems to be best friends with Miss Ginevra Weasley. Apparently she frequents the Leaky often with her and her Harpies teammates…" Charlotte began, her voice hesitant as she glanced up from one file to Lucius, who seemed like he couldn't be bothered.

"I know this information, Charlotte," he said irritably, his icy eyes finally meeting his secretary, causing her to rifle manically through other files.

"Erm, she takes a run every morning, she has an older brother and a younger sister…"

Lucius did not look impressed and Charlotte stammered, "Sir, she was very hard to find information about. She seems to be very secretive…"

"There are ways around that Charlotte. Are you completely incompetent?" Lucius asked in a soft, cool voice, which was significantly more frightening than if he would have yelled at her, "Her past relationships…what of them?"

Charlotte looked relieved and pulled a file from the back, opening it up, "I do have some information on that, sir. Lacey dated Oliver Wood from her 6th year at Hogwarts until she was 19. He's currently a Chaser on Puddlemere United. Her next boyfriend seems to be…ah, Fred Weasley. She dated him right after Wood until about six months ago. He's a Beater for Pride of Portree and he has that joke shop in Diagon Alley…"

"I don't give a damn what these boys do for a living Charlotte. Is there anything else?"

Charlotte blushed, apparently reading something more in the file, "There's quite a list of men who were rumored to be with her at some point in time."

Lucius' left eyebrow raised and he pushed the paperwork in front of him to the side, "What exactly do you mean by that?" His voice was clipped and he was far from pleased.

"She's quite a celebrity in her own right, sir. The Prophet seems pretty interested in her love life. It's all rumors though…and most of them are Quidditch players…but _oh_…" Charlotte had been running her well-manicured finger over what appeared to be some clipped articles from the Prophet and giggled, an even deeper blush rising to her cheeks.

Lucius tapped his fingers impatiently against the desk, "What is so amusing? Who has she been rumored to be with?"

"This particular article links her to Cormac McLaggen, Seamus Finnigan, and…Sirius Black…"

Lucius's countenance darkened. Every time he heard that name he wished to Merlin that the man had stayed dead. When it came to finding mistresses in London when Lucius wanted them, Black was his only competition. "Very well, leave that here," he told his secretary dismissively. When the file was in his hand and he looked at the five names Charlotte had pointed out, he had a feeling resembling jealousy and was suddenly very glad that Virginia had been a virgin before he was with her. He also noted that four of the men played Quidditch….and Black seemed the odd man out of the group. It also didn't set well with Lucius that the girl seemed to be solely sleeping with men somehow related to Harry Potter.

Yet despite all of those annoyances, Lucius couldn't help but still want Lacey, as the files in front of him only further proved that she would be a challenge, and there was hardly anything he loved more than a challenge.

***.*.*.*.***

Lacey walked into the Tavern restaurant a few minutes before eight, looking the picture of calm, even if she didn't feel like it. She took in the warm, cozy interior of the ridiculously expensive restaurant nestled behind a Muggle shopping center in the middle of London, charmed on the outside to look like a vacant thrift-store. The whole place was dimly lit, romantic, and the epitome of British sophistication. Lacey was seriously glad she had opted for a very dressy outfit, as everyone around her seemed to have money to spare.

She kept her eye on the floo in the quaint little waiting area, but Lucius Malfoy never stepped out of it. Fiddling with her thin gold ring out of the nerves she was trying her best to hide, Lacey approached the snooty-looking hostess and inquired about their reservation.

"You are meeting Mr Malfoy?" The way her perfect button nose scrunched up at Lacey made her want to kick the leggy thing in the shins, but she followed her obediently through a few rooms until she saw the back of his platinum head. The hostess left Lacey there with an obvious eye roll and Lacey took a deep breath before walking over to him.

"Um, Mr Malfoy?" Lacey's voice had all intentions of being confident, but came out rather shaky as he stood up from his seat, took her hand gently from her side, kissed it, and pulled out her chair for her. Lacey kept her eyes on him the entire time, begrudgingly noticing that he looked nice in his dinner jacket and impeccably tailored robes. He noted her distinct Irish accent and her height-she was directly at eye level with him in her heels.

"I'm so glad you decided to join me Miss Delaney," he smirked at her once he was sitting down again. A smartly dressed waiter was upon them immediately, asking what they would like to drink.

"We'll have a bottle of the Superior Red, to start," Lucius told the waiter, and Lacey's face fell at his nearly instantaneous attempt at futilely trying to impress her by bringing out wine known to be bottled by the Malfoy Apothecary, one of dozens of Malfoy family endeavors.

"Actually, I can't stand wine. Can you bring me a Simison Steaming Stout instead? That'd be great," Lacey smiled at the waiter, and although he paused in shock for a moment, he dutifully nodded and rushed off. Lacey turned the same smile on Lucius, "There are two things about me you should know right now. I hate wine, and I hate people ordering for me."

Lucius took a moment to compose himself, but he finally answered, "Very well then, Miss Delaney."

"_Lacey_, please."

"Lacey," he nodded and clenched his jaw as he looked at the woman in front of him. She was already driving him mad and she hadn't even been there for two minutes. She had chosen to wear a very short black velvet dress that clung to her body, with a demure scoop neck and long, tight sleeves. Her hair was down in messy waves, her long legs accentuated with tall black pumps, and her face bare save for blood red lipstick. She looked nothing short of smoldering and he could already feel the effects of her appearance on his body, but her attitude left much to be desired. Lucius knew in that instant that this was going to be harder than he had anticipated.

"So, Mr Malfoy, why is a woman like me sitting across from a man like you? If you wanted an autograph, you really could have just asked…" she laughed.

"Please call me Lucius, and no, an autograph was not exactly what I had in mind. I simply thought dinner with a beautiful woman would be a nice way to spend my evening. You certainly have been occupying my mind since I saw you at the Canons match," his voice was low and he watched her face intently for any give away that she was pleased to be there. He found nothing but a stubborn, seemingly impenetrable wall.

"Well, here I am, all yours for the night," Lacey cocked her head to the side, already feeling more confident, her voice laced with a hint of sarcasm. The waiter came back and placed a glass of wine in front of Lucius, and the beer in front of Lacey. He took their order and although Lucius was dying to make a suggestion for her food, Lacey went ahead and ordered what she wanted. When he walked away, Lucius lifted his wine glass, "I do hope you _will_ be mine for the night."

Lacey replied with a wink and clinked her beer glass to his, taking a subsequent sip of the steaming ale. "So, are you considering this a date then?"

_She's rather blunt_, Lucius thought to himself, but her boldness impressed him, "I sent you flowers, I invited you to dinner, so yes, in my opinion this is a date. And you look exceedingly gorgeous, Lacey, I have to say."

He watched a coy smile creep up her face, and a hint of a blush tinged her cheeks, but her pale blue eyes that matched his so exactly stayed unreadable, "I'm very flattered, Lucius, but it just seems odd to me that you are looking to date so soon after your divorce, and especially since I heard you were getting married again…"

Lucius nearly choked on his wine and his face flushed for a second, "Where did you hear that?"

"Oh, people talk," she sighed breezily with a triumphant little grin, "It shouldn't come as a surprise to you that the whole mess with Narcissa kinda made headlines. The Prophet said you came back from France with a girl you were planning to wed," Lacey leaned forward, really laying into him. She couldn't wait to get back and tell Ginny about every flustered nuance of his face.

"That's utter speculation. The Prophet is unreliable and constantly inaccurate. And honestly, I don't see how my divorce is any of your business," Lucius looked around the room to make sure no one else was listening into their conversation.

"Oh, please, I don't care about your divorce. I just try to not date men that already have girlfriends. It doesn't look good, ya know?"

Lucius found the little smile on her face nothing short of infuriating and decided she wouldn't have the upper hand, "If you truly want to believe things the Prophet writes, then I have no choice than to think poorly of you for sleeping with a convict."

For the briefest of seconds, Lacey looked stunned and her mouth opened and closed but no sound came out. She finally managed, "That…that _didn't_ happen…"

"No?" It was Lucius' turn to sport an amused smile, "Judging by the way you can't string together a coherent sentence, I think maybe it did."

Lacey turned red and looked down into her lap. That whole debacle with Sirius had turned her world upside down for a few weeks just because she had let her persistent wild streak get the best of her. Thankfully she had squashed it down so that all of her friends believed it really was a rumor, but it hardly mattered anymore, and she had no idea how Lucius managed to find out. It was this wild streak that she was desperately trying to prevent popping up while sitting in front of Lucius.

To her, the whole night had been even more of a disaster than she thought it would be, all made worse by the fact that he was sitting there looking so devastatingly _good_ and yet she loathed every word out of his mouth. She was still avoiding eye contact with him, thoroughly pissed off, when their food was set in front of them. Lucius picked up his knife and fork and cut into his steak, "Do you have a thing for 'bad boys' Lacey?"

Her crystal blue eyes darted up to meet his, "Maybe I do, but Dark Marks and a history with Voldemort are where I draw the line."

"_Ah_, there's that Gryffindor fire, how adorable," he said mockingly her before taking a piece of the steak in his mouth and chewing it slowly.

"How is it that you know so much about me?" She asked him, livid, her lips pursing.

"I have my ways, but how is it that you _think_ you know so much about me Lacey?"

She ignored his question for a moment, cutting into a steak twice as big as his filet and eating in silence. She took long swigs of her beer when she needed it, and then wiped her mouth with the cloth napkin demurely afterwards. Every move she made simultaneously incensed and turned Lucius on and he was afraid she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Look," she finally broke the silence, and Lucius was grateful for it because he was tired of playing her little game, "Do you or do you not have some little French girl locked up in that great big castle of yours?"

His thoughts went to his lovely Virginia and he felt the need to protect her, "She is not some 'little French girl'…" he hissed at Lacey.

"Right, so there we go, she's real," Lacey nodded, "And does she know you are having dinner with me?"

"That is _enough_," his voice was threatening and it made Lacey stiffen. She had enjoyed teasing the man, and particularly getting back at him for bringing up unwanted memories, but now she was a little frightened that she had taken it too far. Lacey sighed and reached for her purse, fished around in it for some galleons and placed them on the table to pay her share of the dinner. She stood up and took two steps to where Lucius was sitting in his seat, gripping his steak knife tightly, and leaned down. Her red lips moved to his ear and her hair tickled his face. He breathed in the smell of her-wood, leather, and roses, and he closed his eyes as she whispered in his ear.

"I'm sorry for bringing up your little girlfriend, but I only play dirty on the pitch, not in relationships. I know you want me Lucius, but I'm just something you can't have," she told him before standing up and looking down at the dumbstruck, but decidedly very handsome, blonde. She gave him a small wave and started to walk away from the table but paused, and called over her shoulder, loud enough for some other tables to hear, "Oh, _the bedroom_…I play dirty in the bedroom too. G'night Lucius!"

And with a playful shrug of her shoulders, she was gone.

**A/N: Will Lucius keep pursuing Lacey? Will Virginia find out about her? What did you think of that awkward and tense dinner? Do tell us all in the review section and we will love you forever and always.**


	5. Of Marriage and Men

**Chapter 4: Of Marriage and Men**

***.*.*.*.***

Although Lucius was perturbed by Lacey's performance at dinner, he was by no means put off. It took him all of two days to repair his hurt pride, 'climb back on the horse', and find himself sitting once again in the top box, this time at the Exmoor Quidditch Stadium. Fitzhaggus had been only too happy to secure Lucius tickets for the Appleby Arrows v. Harpies match, flattered by Lucius' smooth lies that the Supreme Mugwump had, single-handedly, inspired a new found love in him for Quidditch.

The match had been going on for just over an hour, but already the Arrows were dominating the game, leading with 70 points to Lacey's team's 10, and already their Seeker had twice nearly caught the elusive snitch. Lucius wasn't particularly interested in the game, but the way that Lacey repeatedly flew past the top box, unaware of her new fan, had him quite captivated. He was more determined than ever that she would be his, one way or another, if only for a night.

"_And there we have it, ladies and gents," _the announcer exclaimed a few seconds short of the 90 minute mark, _"Holland for the Arrows has finally caught the snitch, ending this match with 230 points for the Arrows! Good game, Arrows, good game..."_

Lucius rose with the other top box spectators and clapped politely, his eyes trained on Lacey, who was sharing a sour look with Weasley and a quick handshake mid-air with the Arrows' lead Chaser, before losing height and finally letting her feet touch solid ground. The Arrows sped round the stadium as the Harpies disappeared inside, and Lucius slipped from the box before the inevitable meet-and-greet.

It didn't take him long to locate the area where the changing rooms were, and he fully intended to wait and intercept Lacey, who had been fastidiously ignoring his owls, on her way out. Growing closer to the dingy inner-part of the stadium, however, Lucius' brow furrowed. Raised voices could be heard from around the corner, and one of them in particular had his attention in an instant.

"I've told you before, Skeeter," a distinct, Irish accent hissed, anger clear in her tone, "I am _not_ fucking Holland, nor did I screw Cotton - just because Holland's from bloody Dublin does _not _mean that-"

"Now, now, what's all this?" Lucius had moved around the corner towards the voices, and now raised an eyebrow at Lacey and Rita Skeeter in turn, in the manner of aristocratic arrogance that he had so perfected. "I do hope you're not bothering our dear Miss Delaney, Rita?"

Lacey sighed loudly at the sight of Lucius and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes at both the infuriating journalist and her infuriating new stalker. "Leave off, Lucius," she told him fiercely, "These are the _girl_'schanging quarters, you shouldn't even be here."

"Oohh!" Skeeter squealed, her enchanted quill scribbling furiously as she clapped her hands, eyes darting between Lucius and Lacey like Christmas had come early. "What's this then? A Lovers' Quarrel? Delaney and the Death-Eater...No, no, scratch that!" she directed the quill, "Make that: _Chasing the Dark Mark: Star Chaser's New Beau."_

"You would do well," Lucius snarled at Skeeter, who had summoned a camera and was trying to push Lacey into a shot with Lucius, "to 'scratch' the whole of that dictation."

"How sweet!" Skeeter purred, ignoring him completely, "Lacey's a lucky girl to have _you_ defending her!"

"He's not my _beau_," Lacey snapped, rounding on Skeeter with a steely glint in her eye.

"Hmph," Skeeter huffed, barely batting an eyelid when Lacey threw a punch at the camera, which had been hovering an inch from her head, "Very well then, I'll report my original findings - so, tell me, Miss Delaney - how will the Arrows' victory today affect your relationship with Holland?"

Lacey looked as if she was about to tackle Skeeter's enchanted notepad to the ground, but before she could, Lucius stepped in once again. "Miss Skeeter," he purred, changing tone, and coming to stand between the two women, "How about an even _juicier _story?"

"Ooh, do tell," she implored, quill poised beside her. Lucius leant forward and whispered something in her ear as Lacey strained to hear what he was saying. All she could see was Skeeter's reaction - but from the look of horror which quickly swept over her lined face, Lacey guessed that whatever Lucius had said wasn't exactly what the journalist had been hoping for.

Lucius pulled back, and Skeeter straightened up, hastily pocketing her quill and notepad. "Right - well - that being said-" she stuttered, before giving a little squeak and legging it the other way. Lucius and Lacey watched her go as she scurried down the corridor and out of sight, looking every inch the beetle.

"I suppose you're expecting gratitude now, Mr Malfoy," Lacey said, turning to Lucius who watched her with interest and clear admiration. "But, frankly, I'm more interested to know _why _you're here - didn't you get the message after I ignored not one, not two, but _three_ of your precious owls? I've told you - I'm not interested. And I'm not some damsel-in-distress who needs saving."

Lucius regarded her for a moment, his fingers drumming the head of his cane. "If you must know, Miss Delaney, I see you as anything _but _a 'damsel-in-distress', as you put it. I merely stepped in to help salvage both our reputations. The Prophet has hardly been a friend to either of us, has it? I expect nothing in return.

"As to why I'm here, I would have thought that much was obvious after the messages I've sent you. I wanted to..._clear _some things up. I feel that our dinner the other night left too many matters unresolved."

"Go on then," Lacey challenged him, and Lucius couldn't help but admire her fiery courage and slightly aggressive attitude, even after a tiring game and the subsequent confrontation with Rita Skeeter. She hadn't even had a chance to shower yet, and was standing before him in her Harpies uniform, broom under one arm. The look didn't bother Lucius in the slightest.

"You seemed to be under the impression that I am in a serious relationship with 'some little French girl'..." he put on Lacey's accent as he quoted her words from two days ago, but instead of infuriating Lacey, as it should have done, she found herself oddly trying to stifle a smile. "You were mistaken," he continued firmly, "I am not in a relationship with anybody. Mademoiselle Virginia Renwick is living with me, yes, but we are not _together. _She is the daughter of one of my close business partners, recently graduated from Beauxbatons, and she is staying with me while her parents are still in France. I am not, as you seem to imagine, an ogre, Lacey - I don't make a habit of 'locking up little girls' in my castle." She was still eyeing him suspiciously. "Unless they want me to, of course," he couldn't resist adding as an afterthought, and smirked as her eyes widened. She broke into a grin despite herself and he cocked an eyebrow back at her.

"So when you asked me out to dinner..."

"I hoped to spend a nice evening with a beautiful young woman."

Lacey grinned rather impishly. "Not quite what you got, though..."

"Oh, I don't know, Miss Delaney - it was certainly _eventful_." She laughed, an addictive sound. "There's always the second date..." Lucius suggested, his eyes darkening as he allowed them to roam her body freely as she looked away, considering his proposition.

"Are you sure you want to take the chance, Mr Malfoy?" she asked sweetly, her eyes shining, clearly enjoying this new type of conversation with him.

"I think I can take it, Lacey," he replied lowly, taking her hand and bending low to kiss the back of it, taking her quite by surprise. When he rose, he turned on his heel. "I'll be in touch," he called over his shoulder, striding down the corridor. Lacey, blinking in shock after him, didn't see the triumphant smirk plastered across his face.

*.*.*.*.*

"Lucius!" Virginia breathed as she heard his footfall outside her bedroom, "Thank heavens you're back-" She had thrown herself at him, clutching at his arms and pulling him into her room. She saw Lucius eyeing the bed behind them and her breasts hungrily, and wished that _that_ was what she had in mind too.

"What's the matter, my dear?" he asked her with fake concern, running a presumptuous hand down her side. The look in his grey eyes soon turned to real worry as he caught a glimpse of Antoinette Renwick through Virginia's window. "_Is that your Mother?_" he asked, praying that his eyes had deceived him.

Virginia nodded, looking rather frantic. "She just turned up, after you'd left. I was about to go out to meet Cecily and Amelia..."

"And so you put her outside?" Lucius asked, a hint of teasing returning to his voice as he assessed the severity of the situation. Virginia missed the irony and shook her head vehemently.

"No, no - she said she wanted to _explore_ - it was either show her the gardens or let her investigate the bedrooms! Sir, I'm sorry, I didn't know she'd turn up like this!"

Lucius chuckled, pulling Virginia to him and kissing her soundly on the mouth until he felt her relax in his arms. Out of the corner of his eye he could still see her mother, who was waving her wand over various hedgerows, as if they might reveal secrets to her. "I don't mean to sound rude, pet, but do you happen to know when she's planning on leaving? I can think of many uses for the bedrooms, but a place to show your parents is _not_ one of them..."

"I don't know," Virginia answered, turning, too, to watch her mother through the glass. "She said something about dinner. She wants to see you, of course, and I expect my Father will too - he's not here yet, I think _Maman_ left him at their new house to instruct the house-elves while she came ahead..."

"Very well, then," Lucius said decisively, "There's nothing left for it - we shall have to entertain them." He saw Virginia swallow. "Don't look so distraught, my dear - there'll be plenty of time to..._utilize _the bedrooms after dinner."

Virginia shook her head. "It's not that," she admitted softly. "What if Maman wants me to..." She trailed off. "I don't want to leave here."

Lucius cupped her cheek gently, making her look up at him. "Then don't," he said simply, kissing her gently again. Truthfully, as infatuated as Lucius was with a certain mouthy Quidditch player, there was nothing quite like returning to the Manor and being welcomed by his young, adoring mistress, and he certainly wasn't willing to give that up anytime soon. If nothing else, he told himself coldly, his alliance with Charles Renwick was doing wonders for his Gringotts account, although deep down he had to acquiesce, his affair with Virginia was far more than a calculated business move to his advantage.

The rest of the afternoon dragged on painfully slowly. Virginia's mother was, of course, over the moon to see Lucius, especially when she saw how enamored he was with her daughter, and she almost dropped her cup of tea when Lucius planted a tender kiss on Virginia's forehead.

Virginia and Lucius, meanwhile, put up a valiant performance, letting Antoinette hear what she wanted to hear and see what she wanted to see, all the while shooting each other meaningful glances and the odd raised eyebrow here and there. Antoinette was thrilled when Virginia showed her the room she'd decorated for that very purpose, and seemed to completely buy into the story that the pair were continuing their courtship with great concern over Virginia's virtue.

The first sign of trouble reared its head it dinner that evening. Charles Renwick had joined the party, and he and Lucius had kept up a largely unintelligible conversation over the first three courses regarding their joint venture in selling Sal Ammoniac. It was during the dessert course that Antoinette made her voice heard:

"So, Lucius," she chimed in during the briefest of pauses in conversation, after perhaps one-too-many glasses of Cognac, "Do I hear ze wedding bells?" There was a terrible, heavy silence, as she downed the rest of her glass, her eyes fixed on Lucius. To his credit, Lucius maintained the air of distinction and dignity his position had always afforded him. He reached across the table and took Virginia's hand in his lightly, merely smiling at Charles when he tried to apologize for his wife's outburst.

"Well, Antoinette, I think it may be a little early to start thinking about all that. Virginia and I are still..._getting to know _one another." He looked away from the elder Renwick and picked up his fork, taking a bite of the rich cheesecake in front of him, hoping that his guests would follow suit and the topic would be dropped. It was, surprisingly, Virginia who spoke up, looking as if she was trying to hide some greater emotion behind a false expression of cheer.

"I have been here for nearly ten weeks, Lucius," she said, giving his hand a squeeze as he, sighing quietly, set down his fork. "Would it really be such a big step to start _thinking_ about it?" Lucius' eyes widened, as did Charles', but Antoinette clapped her hands together, hastily wiping her mouth with her napkin.

"Exactly! Perhaps Lucius vould like ze word with Virginia's father after dinner, eh?" she winked, inebriated to the point that her limited filter was now non-existent. Lucius' jaw clenched, and he wet his lips with his tongue, beginning to feel rather uneasy. _Was this what Virginia had been expecting the whole time?_

"I'm quite sure that Charles has much to be getting on with this evening," Lucius replied firmly, and his tone had Virginia lowering her eyes. She pulled her hand away from his and rested it in her lap.

"I'm sorry about my wife," Charles told Lucius after the meal had ended. Virginia had taken her mother into the library, and for once it looked as though Antoinette was more put out with Lucius than with her daughter. "She's been very..._stressed_ of late."

"Please, think nothing of it," Lucius replied easily, although he seemed capable of thinking of nothing else. _Is that what she wants?_ He was about to take Charles through to join the ladies when his house-elf Lexi ran towards him, looking more panic-stricken than normal.

"Master! There is guest, Lexi brings her into Master's study..."

"_Her?"_ Lucius questioned. Rarely did anyone turn up unannounced at Malfoy Manor, but when they did, without exception it was one of Lucius' distant uncles or a client or business partner - never before had a _woman_ shown up like that, not since long before Narcissa had moved out.

Lexi nodded hurriedly. "A tall lady, pretty, lots of hair...She wouldn't leave-"

Charles was looking on with intrigue as recognition dawned in Lucius' mind. "Very well, Lexi - I'll be with her presently." He led Charles through to the library, excused himself most apologetically from his guests, and straightened his robes as he made his way down to his office. _Surely she wouldn't_..._But who else would?_

He opened the door to his study somewhat cautiously, revealing, as he had suspected, an ever-so-slightly tipsy Lacey Delaney. She seemed to have made herself at home, reclining on one of his long couches by the fire place which had been empty of fire when he'd left it.

"Miss Delaney," he said as he entered, and she stood up leisurely as he shut the door firmly behind him. "What a pleasant _surprise_."

"Mr Malfoy," she replied, placing a hand on her hip as she regarded him across his study, "I do hope this isn't a bad time," she added with a cheeky smirk, imitating his distinctive way of speaking as he had teased her earlier that day. Lucius merely raised an eyebrow in return, and moved so that he was standing directly in front of her.

"What can I do for you, Lacey?" he asked lowly, taking in with appreciation her figure-hugging red dress.

"I had a certain second date in mind..." she replied, stepping even closer to him so that Lucius could smell her spicy fragrance and a hint of bourbon on her breath. Before she knew what she was doing, Lacey had closed the gap between them, wrapped a hand around Lucius' neck, and was leaning up on her toes, her mouth on his.

Lucius was taken by surprise, but soon his hand found its way round her waist and was pulling her closer to his body, the other one cupping her cheek as she kissed him hard, hardly caring that she barely knew the man, or that she knew more than she wanted to about his past, or that he lived in some sort of ice cold mansion with an army of house-elves. He was a damn-good kisser.

Lucius' eyes were dark when he pulled away, his arm still wrapped around Lacey, holding her up close to him. He searched her flustered looking face, but found a look of certainty in her ice blue eyes.

"What do you really want, Lacey?" he asked, his voice gruff.

"I think you know..." she murmured back, trailing a brave hand down between them and drawing a stunned gasp from Lucius as she cupped him through his suit trousers, certain that she felt the stirrings of an erection. "You want me too."

Lucius slid his hands down her back and ran them over her arse, feeling the outline of her panties beneath the tight dress. "Exactly how much have you had to drink this evening?" he asked her; as much as he wanted her, and, she was right, he did _want _her, he didn't plan on taking advantage of an intoxicated young woman who would no doubt regret it in the morning.

"Enough that I was brave enough to turn up here - not so much that I splinched myself on my way... I know what I'm doing, Lucius," she told him, reaching for his zipper, but Lucius stepped away nimbly and lightly slapped her hand.

"Naughty girl..." he purred, "Are you aware that you're playing with fire?"

"I'm the Gryffindor here, Lucius," she replied, moving to kiss him again, but again he stopped her.

"I hope you know what you're doing," he muttered, stroking her hair before tugging on it firmly, asserting his dominance and eliciting an appreciative moan from Lacey. "_I've got half a mind to fuck you right here on the rug_," he told her with a glint in his eye, and her lips parted as she breathed more heavily, "But I like to think of myself as a gentleman. If you're sure you want to stay..." He paused, but Lacey nodded. "My bedroom's upstairs. I hope you don't expect me to go easy on you..."

Lacey rolled her eyes. "The way you're inching away from me, Lucius, anyone would think you're scared of _me..._"

Lucius chuckled darkly. "We'll see about that, Miss Delaney - now, last chance to say no-"

"I've already said yes," she whispered, throwing herself at him once again, and wrapping two surprisingly strong arms around his neck as Lucius deepened the kiss. It took great will-power for him to pull away from her a second time.

"I have some guests to take care of, Lacey - you shall wait in my bedroom for me." She nodded. Lucius didn't relish feeling like a fugitive in his own home, but couldn't deny that there was something rather exciting about summoning Lexi to make sure that Virginia and her parents remained in the library, out of the way, while he escorted Lacey upstairs quietly.

He left Lacey, again looking as though she was planning on making herself at home, and headed back down to the library, aware that he had been absent for an inexcusable amount of time. If his mind hadn't been so set on Lacey, waiting and willing on his bed, the sight he found before him would have given him a headache.

Charles was sitting to one side of the library, cradling a scotch and looking supremely irritated. His wife and daughter looked to be in the middle of some sort of standoff. Virginia had her arms crossed stubbornly across her chest and a frown clung to her pretty features, as her mother towered over her, shouting in French so that Lucius could barely understand what she was saying. She trailed off when Lucius walked in, and shot him a forced expression which was barely a smile.

"Ladies, Charles," Lucius said evenly, eying the three of them. "I must apologize most profusely for my extended absence."

"We understand completely, Lucius," Charles said, standing up quickly. He looked distinctly relieved that Lucius had returned and stopped the arguing by his mere presence. "In fact, I think that perhaps Antoinette and I ought to be leaving now - we thank you for your generous hospitality this evening." He swept across the room and caught his wife by the arm, placing a firm hand on her lower arm to lead her away, stopping to plant a swift kiss on his daughter's cheek as he went. Lucius walked with the pair to the door, and showed them out, pleased that Antoinette chose to remain silent.

He found Virginia slumped in a chair when he returned to the library, looking rather defeated.

"It's late, my dear," he said, stopping by the doorway. The feeling constricting his chest felt too much like guilt for Lucius to be able to bear to accept it. "I'll see you to your room. Come."

Virginia's face fell. "You will stay with me tonight, Sir?" she asked plaintively, taking Lucius' hand in hers. He led her a few steps before answering. It was a rare thing for Lucius to lie to Virginia.

"Not tonight, pet. My unexpected visitor requires..._urgent attention_. A matter has arisen which I cannot ignore." Virginia was silent all the way back to her room, a room which she had yet to actually sleep in, terrified that the comments she and her mother had made over dinner had irreparably pushed Lucius further away from her.

Lucius bent to kiss her gently on the lips, but moved away before she could enchant him enough to make him stay. The feeling Lucius was overwhelmed with as he walked away from her was undeniably guilt.

It disappeared, however, very quickly when he made it back to his room. Lacey had stripped down to a set a deliciously revealing scarlet underwear and arranged herself on Lucius' king sized bed, like a delectable present waiting just for him. An array of cushions and pillows supported her head, and she had one long, lean leg bent at the knee. A slow smirk spread across her face as she took in Lucius' reaction to her.

"Fuck, Lacey..." he breathed. She laughed.

"I'm not the only one with a dirty mouth, then."

Lucius didn't take his eyes off her as he crossed the room, removing his dinner jacket and shoes and socks as he went.

"You really are a naughty, naughty girl, aren't you, Miss Delaney?" he teased her, stopping by the side of the bed to unbutton his shirt, before finally pulling it off his shoulders. "What I wouldn't give to see you spread eagled and tied to this very bed..."

"In your dreams, Lucius," she replied lowly, her hands immediately reaching for his shoulders as he lowered himself over her, and their lips met in a fervent kiss. Their tongues entwined in a passionate dance, until Lucius won the battle and Lacey finally submitted her mouth to his.

Her hands, however, had other ideas, and resumed their earlier position, stroking firmly through Lucius' trousers, the bulge there now straining to be released. Lucius groaned, determined not to be brought to pieces at Lacey's hand, and pulled her wrists up over her head, holding her hands down on each side of her head. She squirmed beneath him, and instead arched her back, rubbing herself unashamedly against the man above her.

Lucius nudged her legs so that they were spread wider apart, and moved into place between them, sitting back to remove his trousers and inch his boxers over his straining erection. Lacey eyed him hungrily through thick eye lashes.

"Remove your bra," he commanded, and Lacey surprised them both by obeying him without comment, arching her back enticingly as she undid the fastenings and pulled the silky garment off, tossing it to side of the bed. Lucius' eyes darkened further at the sight of her hardened nipples, and he cupped a breast in each hand, squeezing and massaging until Lacey was capable of doing nothing but whimpering under his touch.

Leaving one hand to service her nipple, he simultaneously dropped his head to bestow a multitude of kisses on her other breast, reveling in Lacey's soft moans, and snaked his other hand down over her toned stomach and beneath the thin material of her panties, curling a finger inside her as his thumb brushed over her clit.

"Don't torture me, Lucius," she begged, her fingers slipping through his hair, and he raised his head to look down at her with a smirk.

"Impatient, are we?" he asked in his infuriatingly patronizing tone, but it only made Lacey wetter and more desperate for him, especially when he punctuated his words with sharp pinches to her nipple, which sent pleasure spiking through her body.

Nonetheless, Lucius removed his hand from Lacey's panties, and tugged them down until they were past her knees, allowing her to kick them off, before resuming his place above her. She gasped as he pressed himself against her, the tip of his erection nudging against her soaking lower lips, but still he held back. Lacey let out an impatient moan, willing him to move.

She took her hands and planted her palms flat against Lucius' chest, and he barely had time to register what she was doing until she had given a strong shove and rolled them over, sitting up with a triumphant look on her face and straddling Lucius. He paused for a split second, shocked, before moving to grasp her wrists, planning to pin her down beneath him once again, but years of playing Quidditch had made Lacey just that little bit too fast for her opponent, and she instead held her arms out of his way, her eyes gleaming as she looked down at him, although her lips were still parted to accommodate laboured breathing.

"You underestimate me, Mr Malfoy," she taunted him, grasping the base of his cock firmly and beginning to run her hand up and down his considerable length, watching as his mouth fell open, although he tried to stay in control. He allowed her to carry on despite himself, right until he felt himself about to fall over the edge.

With a great groan he managed to flip them back over, gripping Lacey's upper arms and pinning her down with more force than before. "I warned you not to play with fire, my dear," he told her sternly, taking himself in hand and lining himself up with her entrance. "No more teasing. I'm going to have you, now."

He thrust into her roughly, his eyes fluttering shut as he felt her inner walls clench deliciously around him, and Lacey screamed out his name, bucking her hips up to meet him. Her hands in his hair tugged, but Lucius hardly noticed, nor did Lacey care that the way that Lucius was nipping at her neck and the tops of her breasts was sure to leave marks.

He pulled out all the way each time, driving into her relentlessly, holding off on his own release with some difficulty as Lacey mewled and panted beneath him, clutching at his hair and scalp desperately. Her legs were wrapped around his waist tightly, her head thrown back as she was overwhelmed with intense pleasure.

She came seconds before him, spasming around his cock and pushing him over the edge as she cried out repeatedly, until they both shuddered to rest. Lucius collapsed just to the side of her, breathing heavily and sticky with perspiration dotted across his forehead, as Lacey curled her legs up and hugged them to her as the pounding in her chest slowed gradually.

They lay in a peaceful silence for minutes, Lacey staring out of the window up at the pitch-black night sky, Lucius up at the high ceiling of his bedroom. When a draft of cool air swept into the room, he shifted off the covers and pulled them over Lacey, tilting her face to his and kissing her slowly at the same time.

"Second date's a charm," she muttered playfully, stretching out slightly sore limbs and stifling a yawn.

"Do you think there'll be a third?" Lucius asked, his ice blue eyes boring into hers.

She smiled up at him. "If you ask me nicely."

*.*.*.*.*

**A/N: Thank you guys for your continued support! There is a new chapter up of "Love is a Ruthless Game" and there will be a new chapter up of "How to be a Heartbreaker" very shortly so you can keep up with all of Lacey and Virginia's adventures. **

**But tell us what you think? Lacey and Virginia are under the same roof? How will the morning after go?**


	6. Guilty Conscience

**Chapter 5: Guilty Conscience**

***.*.*.*.***

**A/N: Thank you from both of us for all the support! We hope you enjoy this chapter!**

***.*.*.*.***

Lacey had the most bizarre dreams the entire night and when she opened her eyes the next morning to find Lucius Malfoy sleeping soundly besides her, it suddenly became clear why her brain was a mess.

She ran a hand over her face to push some locks of her unruly, wavy hair out of her eyes and looked around for a clock, finding it to be just after six in the morning. It was a relief to Lacey that she hadn't overslept and wasn't late to practice, but the extra time made her mind wander, especially as she noticed Lucius had stopped lightly snoring and seemed to nearly be awake.

Her first instinct was to run-fast and far- from the man besides her in bed, but a tiny voice in the back of her mind urged her to stay for once, to try and momentarily break her cycle of one-night stands; after all, she had already seen him one more time than she thought she ever would have. Lying back down next to him, she moved closer to his chest and rested her hand on his not overly muscular, yet nicely defined bicep, as she set about studying him.

Conventionally, Lucius, or any Malfoy for that matter, wasn't her type. Ginny had been right about that. And she usually didn't date older men, let alone shag them, with one other exception she wasn't keen on thinking about. But there _was_ something about Lucius that intrigued her and she assumed it was the heady combination of their verbal sparring and intense physical chemistry that made staying in that bed a little easier.

She reminded herself that even though he wasn't her type physically, he was every single one of her guilty pleasures tied up in a neat, blonde, handsome, and dominant package. He surpassed every single one of her previous lovers in the bedroom, and it had only been one time so far; he was charming to the point of rendering her usually non-stop mouth mute, and he acted like she was actually worth his time, which hadn't happened to her in a long while. Lacey had no commitments to anyone, and she figured, as she curled her body closer to his, that she was entitled to some fun.

Lucius' breath on her neck became a touch lighter and he rustled a bit under the duvet, so Lacey ran her hand down his naked chest and stomach, testing the waters of how far she could go before waking him when her hand felt the beginning of a morning erection stirring under his boxers. With her heart fluttering in excitement and a devious little smile on her face, Lacey lifted the duvet up and dove beneath it until it was just the lower half of his anatomy and her under the darkness of the sheets. She ran a tentative hand over the stiffening bulge and heard a muffled noise from him, but after a beat she kept on, gently taking him out of his boxers and stroking his shaft with a light touch until she was afraid he was almost awake. When he was almost fully hard, she took the tip of his cock into her mouth, slowly taking him in until she felt him hit the back of her throat as his hips suddenly bucked up. Lacey coughed a little, but kept on even though she knew she had been found out, especially if the sudden absence of darkness around her was any indication.

"La…cey…._fuck_…" she heard him groan above her, and she darted her eyes over to the sides of his thighs where his hands were clutching at the sheets, giving away his fading self-control. Her nails lightly scratched his inner thighs and then her hands moved to cup his balls as she bobbed up and down on him with her mouth.

There was no question that Lucius was now wide awake and in shock as he stared down at Lacey eagerly licking and sucking him. His eyes trailed down her bare back, now exposed from under the duvet, and to her round arse in her red panties from the night before. Her hair seemed to be everywhere, tickling his thighs and clinging to her face. She looked a right mess, but to him it couldn't have been sexier. He reached down and put his hand in her shiny, tousled locks, thinking about tugging her sharply off of him. He hated to admit it but he always felt a bit guilty whenever a woman gave him head, and it hadn't happened for years. Narcissa had been too much of a prude to, and even some of the women he had had on the side were so turned off by it that he had eventually stopped asking. Truthfully, he wasn't even sure if Virginia would do it with how embarrassed she was at simply touching herself, as erotic as that embarrassment was.

Despite all of this, he just couldn't bring himself to stop Lacey, especially when she chanced a glance up at him and he could see the vexatious smirk on her lips around him before she began sucking more vigorously than before. A louder moan escaped his mouth and he gave up trying to fight it, instead using his hand insinuated in her hair to push her down more onto him, which only seemed to further encourage her. It had been so long since he had felt the warm mouth of a woman on him in that way and he let himself revel in the sensation of it, grunting as he came pathetically early in her mouth.

When Lacey sat up onto her knees, she looked him straight in the eye and swallowed what he had given her, with a little flick of the back of her hand to her mouth to clean up. Lucius was sure that if there was anything left, he would have spilled himself again right at that moment.

"Good morning," she smiled at him and it was a moment before he replied similarly, being a little too busy admiring the way she wasn't afraid of being naked in front of him at all, even in the light of day.

"I have to say," Lucius began, beckoning her to move into his arms and she did, straddling her legs around his waist as he held her, "I don't think I have ever enjoyed waking up so much in my life." Lacey smiled, suddenly shyer as his fingers caressed the smooth skin of her back lazily and he moved to kiss her neck. With a slight blush, she pulled away, was off of him in an instant, and getting off of the bed.

He watched her go for her clothes, studying her tall, fit frame and the enticing swell of her breasts and arse before he spoke again, a little confused, "Lacey, come back to bed and let me say good morning to you properly."

"I have practice," she shrugged, "Really, I liked doing it, alright?" she added, which caused him to pause, afraid that she had somehow read his mind, if that were even possible. Her words had spoken to him on a primal level as well. She had _liked_ it. She _wanted_ to do it without anything in return.

"Can I see you soon, then?" he asked as he watched her slip on her tight red dress from the night before and tie her hair up into a messy bun.

"Maybe…" she winked, "Honestly, I was kinda hoping you might invite me to breakfast with your French ward, what was her name again? Vivienne?"

"_Virginia_," he corrected, a little more harshly than he intended, mostly from the fact that he was immediately drawn out of his blissful state by the mention of his mistresses' name, "And no, I really don't think the two of you would get along."

In Lucius mind, Lacey and Virginia getting along was the most far-fetched thing he could ever imagine.

"Shame, I was only joking though," Lacey sighed playfully, moving back over to the bed and crawling onto it to give Lucius a goodbye kiss. She thankfully missed his sigh of relief from her words. "You know, I think you are right. I _definitely_ have a thing for ex-cons."

Although Lucius' eyes darkened at her mention of their previous conversation at dinner, he was, once again, completely drawn in by her flirtation and pulled her close to him, turning her chaste kiss into one that left Lacey uncomfortably flustered as she crawled off of him once again.

"_Lacey_. When can I see you again?"

Lucius tried to hide the desperation and desire for her in his voice, trying to ignore how much his body craved hers and his mind yearned for her sarcasm and teasing. With a hand on her hip, Lacey gave him a once over, letting her light eyes rake over his naked body, with only half of his right leg covered by the silky sheets. "This next weekend. And who knows, I may be in touch sooner."

"I am not sure I can wait that long," he told her, angry that she could see him already starting to become hard again. The triumphant gleam to her eyes made him want to do all sorts of depraved things to her.

"We'll see. Now, can I apparate from here or are you going to force me to do a walk of shame through this great big house?"

At the second mention of reality, Lucius' stomach plummeted and he reached for his bedside table, pulling out his wand from the drawer. The last thing he needed was Virginia catching Lacey traipsing through the manor looking thoroughly shagged. He momentarily took down his wards and she winked at him, before disapparating with a 'pop'.

***.*.*.*.***

"_Ah_, Virginia, there you are," Lucius smiled, walking into the dining room where his mistress was eating breakfast alone and taking a seat across from her. It was late…later than he usually took breakfast but he just couldn't bring himself to face her any sooner.

Her lack of answer told him everything he needed to know, and he watched her beautiful, but drawn face as she kept her eyes on her plate and didn't look up at him.

"I think we might need to talk, pet," he suggested and she finally put down her fork, folded her hands in her lap, and her grey eyes met his blue ones. "Yes, sir?"

"I am sorry if you are upset that we could not sleep together last night. I was up far later working than I planned and it only would have disturbed your sleep. I meant nothing by it, and I truly hope you do not think my absence was due to that_ conversation_…" he began, his heart surging with guilt at how easily he managed to lie to her once again. Regardless of the feelings he was developing for Lacey, if they were anything more than lust, Virginia had been his rock for months now and she did not deserve his lack of attention.

"Could we possibly continue that conversation?" Virginia asked, which was not at all what Lucius had planned on her saying. He nodded despite his feelings as he began to eat his own breakfast that one of the elves had placed before him, watching how his mistress nervously tried to start the conversation several times before actually beginning.

She avoided directly looking at him when she said it, but the words came out with more than a hint of sadness, "Were the plans for marriage really a complete lie? I know you said you wanted us to start slow and get to know each other, but I thought…_one day_…" her voice trailed off and he watched a few tears gather near her lower eyelashes.

Marriage. The thought scared Lucius more than most things. It had scared him the first time around and thinking about a second marriage was nearly unfathomable for him. It was easy for him to forget that he had said things all to get Virginia to live with him, to get her parents to accept the arrangement, and to stave off unseemly rumors from society. But it was now apparent that Virginia had forgotten none of what he had said, "Darling, you know it is too soon to talk of marriage."

"The average pureblood courtship is a _month_. It has been just over five weeks now…"

Lucius snapped, "And what makes you the expert on pureblood courtship?"

Virgina's face inflamed and she bit her lip, fighting back emotion before answering, "That is what _Mama_ said. I thought things were getting serious between us."

As he watched her speak, and mumble out a little apology in the sweet, refined voice he adored so much, he was taken aback by just how beautiful she was. He would go as far as to say she was the most classic beauty he had ever seen, and knew he was a lucky man to have her. He also knew that if marriage was in the cards for him a second time, Virginia could be the one, but as of now, the word had simply been a means to the end of her staying with him. Another rush of guilt filled him, which he managed to suppress with anger, telling her, "Do you not think I am serious about you? Virginia, if you did not mean anything to me, I would not be taking care of you, letting you live in this manor, or sleep in my bed. You are an extraordinarily important part of my life, but I think you are getting ahead of yourself and testing your place and my patience by asking too much from me."

"I am sorry, sir," Virginia nodded, trying to be the good mistress she knew he wanted her to be, even though her heart was aching. She excused herself and stood up from the table, but Lucius grabbed her hand gently and pulled her over to where he was sitting. He reached up and stroked her porcelain cheek, "My darling girl, my good girl. I don't want to hear that word again until I bring it up. Understood?"

All Virginia could manage was the smallest of inclines of her chin before she rushed off to her room, fighting back tears. _Had she been living in a fantasy thinking she was going to marry him?_ She asked herself variations of this question over and over until she reached the bedroom she had slept in for the first time the night before. Even when she knew Lucius was out of the house for work, she stayed in her room, passing the time with a long bath, half a dozen chapters of a book, and an hour staring out the window to the gardens. She was already in love with him. Her heart was his completely and even though she loved his many endearments for her, her favorite was when he called her _'mine'_. That was all Virginia really wanted—to be _his_-and it only further cemented her desire to marry him, no matter how long it took.

***.*.*.*.***

"Good practice everyone! We are going to kick Wimbourne's arses this week! Now get some rest ladies, see you bright and early on the pitch tomorrow!" Ginny called through the locker room as the team piled in it, exhausted but proud of the work they had put in for the day. Lacey immediately went to her locker to grab her toilet kit before heading for the showers. She stripped naked and turned on the water, her muscles instantly relaxing under the hot stream and she let her head fall back so the water could cover her face.

"What the hell happened to you?"

Ginny's surprised voice shocked Lacey back into reality and she moved out of the water stream, wiping her eyes so that she could see her best friend clearly. The smaller girl was already soaping up, but staring at Lacey's body as she did so.

"What?" Lacey knit her eyebrow and followed Ginny's stare to her hips, "_Oh_…I can explain that…" she flushed. It was the first time she had really looked at the aftermath of her sex with Lucius, and she was pretty sure her hips weren't the only evidence of her night.

"You better start," Ginny warned her, taking her eyes off of the finger-shaped bruises and one large love bite on the fleshy part of skin between her hip and ribs. There were two more large love bites on Lacey's neck, but Ginny only saw them when the brunette scrubbed through her hair with shampoo.

"Malfoy and I got a little intense last night…"

"So that is where you disappeared to? All of us girls were worried about you! You can't just take off from the Leaky mid-drinks. We _did_ notice. You can't get lost in the shuffle that easily, Lace," Ginny scolded her, not sure if she was thrilled about this sudden turn of events, "I thought you were done with that wanker after that farce of a dinner?"

"Clearly I'm not," Lacey kept her voice even. Although Ginny was her best friend, she hardly felt like explaining her attraction to a man they were both supposed to fundamentally hate, "It's nothing serious. Just a little slap and tickle and I'm on my way, _promise_."

Ginny eyed her, almost as if she knew Lacey was lying, but chose to ignore it, "Do you want me to keep it a secret?"

"Please."

"_Fine_, but you can't harp on me about Harry anymore then, alright?" Ginny turned off her water and wrapped a towel around her body. Lacey did the same and stuck out her hand with her pinkie out to Ginny. The girls had been making promises that way ever since they had met. Ginny curled her pinkie around Lacey's and with a wary look, began to walk off.

"You better not go Slytherin on me, alright?" Ginny called back to her best friend, who just laughed.

"Promise."

***.*.*.*.***

A few days later, Virginia was completely fed-up with the Manor, the elves, and the boredom of being alone for most of the day with nothing to keep her company but thoughts of her lover. Although she had rescheduled lunch with Cecily and Amelia for the following day, she simply couldn't be content with confining herself to the library for another second, especially in her overly anxious state.

Lucius had been especially doting to her over the last few days, noticeably more in the bedroom, but whenever there was talk of her parents coming again for dinner, or of anything that even remotely touched upon the future, he grew distant and cold almost instantly. Before he had left that morning, Lucius had given her his Gringotts bank card and insisted that she take herself out shopping to pass the time. That had been Lucius' guilty conscience at odds with him once again, trying to make it right in one of the only ways he knew how-through money. Virginia herself wasn't entirely convinced the act was without motive, but she had gone to Diagon Alley anyway, happy to be out and about amongst people.

After a treat at Florean Fortescue's, she spent the afternoon browsing and trying on gorgeous and luxurious dress robes in Twilfitt and Tatting's, with a glass of white wine in her hand and no lack of attention from the salesgirls, once they found out who she was.

In pureblood Wizarding society, word traveled exceedingly fast. There was hardly an elite witch or wizard who didn't know Mademoiselle Renwick was living at Wiltshire with Lucius Malfoy, but very few of them had seen her in the flesh. The gorgeous, leggy salesgirls in the shop gossiped behind her back about how pretty she was, taking bets on when a large diamond would grace her tiny, soft hands. In the next breath, they were wondering to themselves how this girl had wrapped a Malfoy around those fingers. Virginia wasn't the type to lavish in such attention, although she was sure her mother would be thrilled if she could hear what they were saying, but every whispered mention of a wedding put her in an extremely cross state. She wasn't going to eschew the compliments, but the only person she really wanted them from was Lucius himself.

A few hours later when she had at least a dozen new dresses picked out, she felt it was high time to settle the bill and head back home so she could decide which one to wear to dinner with Lucius that night. Virginia handed the salesgirl Lucius' sleek black bank card and the witch tried it a few times, but ended up simply looking confused.

"Miss Renwick, it looks like an amount as high as this can't be authorized by anyone but the cardholder, I'm sorry," the girl simpered, "But I'm sure if you just run up to Gringotts it can all be explained away, or maybe you could contact Mr Malfoy. It's just a formality. You understand, don't you?"

Virginia tried to keep her composure even though she was frustrated at how these sweet women had turned on her on the drop of a knut, clearly far too interested in how she was going to handle this situation than making her feel comfortable. With a polite smile, Virginia left the shop and headed up the street towards Gringotts, passing Slug and Jigger's apothecary on her way, of which Lacey was just heading down the stairs on the side of the building from her little apartment situated at the top of the shop.

In Lacey's hand was an envelope that needed filling that she hoped she would be able to send off that evening with her owl, Nikki. She walked towards Gringotts, entered the bank, and waited behind a pair of elderly witches for a goblin to help her. As she waited, she looked around the busy bank and her eyes fell on a young woman vehemently arguing with a goblin only a few paces away from her.

She was a petite thing, and very pretty, from what Lacey could see. Her hair was a gorgeous chocolate sheet falling down her back and she was wearing a pretty lilac set of dress robes. She was handing her wand to the grouchy-looking goblin, and Lacey was even sure she heard some words in French. Lacey focused her attention back on waiting for her turn, but a moment later, the woman said something that Lacey just couldn't ignore.

"Mr Malfoy gave me this to go shopping with and I do not want to bother him at work but I hardly think it will be necessary to raise an issue about this," Virginia went on, speaking more softly and Lacey didn't hear any of the rest of her conversation, as she was summoned to the next goblin.

"What can I do for you?" he asked Lacey in a low, gravelly voice, with a sneer on his face. Lacey offered up her wand as identification, "I'd like to withdraw two hundred and fifty galleons from my vault, please."

"Right away, Miss Delaney," the goblin nodded after checking her identity. He left his high perch and hobbled off for her gold, giving Lacey another moment to watch the very flustered woman to her left take her wand and leave Gringotts. Lacey was sure she had to be Virginia Renwick, the girl Lucius said was living with him. She was clearly French, and clearly shopping on Lucius' money. It made Lacey smirk to think about Lucius trying to appease the daughter of a wealthy business partner with unlimited shopping funds, only to have it backfire.

Soon the goblin returned with Lacey's money and she thanked him, stuffing the shining gold Galleons into the large envelope and sealing it. Out of every paycheck from the Harpies, she sent money to her family back in Ireland. Her father farmed for a living, and hardly made much, and he was raising her baby sister Aislinn alone, as her mother had been dead for a few years. She didn't always have the time to visit, but she did what she could for them, and walked out of the bank thinking nothing more of the mysterious Renwick girl.

***.*.*.*.***

"It's so good to see you _ma mie_!" Cecily embraced Virginia and Amelia was next. All three girls were beaming to be in the presence of one another again, as it had been a few months since they had last seen each other.

"You both look so beautiful! Oh, how I have missed you!" Virginia told them as they sat down in a charming little café in the wizarding section of downtown Wiltshire. Virgina couldn't have been happier to be with her friends again, and reached across the table to grasp one of each of their hands in hers, squeezing them with fondness.

"So, tell us everything! We've only heard rumors!" Cecily began, her French accent thicker than the other girls'. Her hair was dark blonde and she was statuesque with high cheekbones, all owed to being 1/16th Veela. Amelia had a short black bob and wore her eyeliner winged out and her lipstick dark. She was constantly smoking and was always the first to have the latest couture fashions from Paris.

"Well, let's see, where do I start?" Virginia clasped her hands together, excitedly. She had gotten over her minor embarrassment at Twilfitt and Tatting's from the day before after Lucius had admitted he had forgotten about the added security measures on his card and made sure to rectify the situation immediately, which led her to spending that entire morning shopping until she practically fainted at every other fine establishment in Diagon. Lucius had also been so sweet to her that morning, kissing her forehead before he left for work, and giving her that smile she knew was only meant for her.

"How did you meet him?" Amelia asked, and Virginia hastily began her story about the night he had come to her parents' house for dinner. Yet during her retelling, she noticed that the quaint restaurant seemed to be getting noisier by the moment.

All three girls had missed the entry of Lucius and Lacey, but even though the café was small, low walls inside the space sectioned off different areas and made it possible for the two parties to miss eye contact at first. It wasn't until the girl sitting at the table next to Virginia and her friends began getting excited did the threesome notice anything.

"Mama! That's Lacey Delaney! Do you think she will mind if I ask for her autograph?" the girl asked her mother with wide-eyes. She looked no older than twelve years old, and with the approval of her mom, grabbed a scrap of paper out of her bag and rushed over to the table where Lucius and Lacey were sitting.

"Who is that?" Virginia asked her friends, who had moved over to England months before Virginia had and seemed to have recognized the name.

"She's a rather famous Quidditch player, I wonder where she is sitting…" Cecily tilted her head up and tried to look around the restaurant, finally spotting the woman in question, as she followed Quidditch quite regularly and hated the Harpies for how badly they beat the French women's team a year prior.

Virginia followed her friends' gaze and saw the girl asking a smiling brunette for an autograph, which wasn't a shock in itself. A second later, Virginia dropped her fork and gaped when she saw the Quidditch player pat the girl on the shoulder and then turn back to her lunch date, who happened to be her lover, Lucius Malfoy.**  
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**A/N: We both want to thank you for reading and for leaving us reviews! Tell us what you think/hope will happen in the next chapter!**


	7. Suspicions

**A/N: Thanks for the support everyone! VenusInHerHair did a great job on this chapter. Go check out her profile for more Virginia and other awesome stories! Enjoy!**

**Chapter 6: Suspicions**

To Virginia, it felt as if time had frozen. She watched as Lucius returned the Quidditch player's smile, and reached out to pat her hand across the table. The woman said something to him, her exact words indistinct in the busy café, but Virginia watched as he made his reply. The brunette tossed her long hair out of her face as she laughed, and Lucius took a sip of his drink, his light eyes dancing and fixed on his companion.

"Virginia?" Virginia was pulled back to her own table, and Cecily and Amelia, who were looking at her with some concern.

"Are you alright, V?" Amelia asked, setting aside her cigarette as she peered at her friend.

Virginia blinked at her, gathering her thoughts, trying to make sense of what she'd seen. Thankfully, neither of her friends seemed to have recognized the man sitting opposite Lacey Delaney, and they were focused again on their own table, on the other side of the café.

"I-" she stuttered, twisting her napkin in her lap, as she heard the unmistakable laugh of her lover from across the room. "Yes. Sorry. I just remembered something I have to do later." Amelia shrugged and turned to putting out her cigarette, and Cecily smiled at Virginia.

"It must be hard, adjusting to life here," she said sympathetically. "Do you know what you're ordering yet?" As easily as that, conversation turned to Cecily, and her internship at France's equivalent to the _Daily Prophet_, and, as the girls ate their lunch, Amelia's infuriating sister, and what she'd done this time.

Virginia nodded and laughed, and occasionally chimed in with noises of agreement or shared indignation on her friend's behalf, but her focus was unsurprisingly elsewhere. As Amelia and Cecily ordered, she had subtly repositioned her chair, so as to be better able to observe Lucius and Lacey, and when the waiter flirted with Cecily, she put a weak disillusionment charm around the table under her breath, hoping that Lucius wouldn't spot her. As curious as she was to know what Lucius would make of seeing her here, she needed time to get her facts together before jumping to any rash conclusions.

Besides, she thought bitterly half-way through the meal, Lucius certainly didn't look like he'd want to be interrupted. The Quidditch woman was talking animatedly, laughing often and more than once did she lightly touch Lucius' arm over the table. Lucius, in turn, looked to be enjoying his lunch, and Virginia was sure that even without the charm, he wouldn't have noticed her, or anyone else in the cafe, as long as _Lacey_ was in front of him.

As the conversation went on, Virginia watched from the corner of her eye as more and more young fans sidled up to Lacey, asking for autographs, from what she could make out. Loath as she was to admit it, Delaney was perfectly lovely with them, smiling and joking. She even allowed the mother of particularly young fan to take a photo with her, holding the daughter on her lap.

She was also, Virginia had to admit, very pretty. Her messy brown hair was catching the light through the window, and Virginia noticed that it was naturally highlighted with slightly lighter, almost auburn shades. Her vivacious smile was captivating Lucius as much as it was her fans.

_Maybe_, Virginia tried to tell herself, _this is a business meeting._ In all fairness, she didn't know the half of what Lucius got up to at work or in his own private ventures, and she did know that he'd been invited to a big Quidditch match in the not so distant past. But the more she watched, barely even keeping up a pretense of listening to Amelia's outrageous stories anymore, the less convinced of this she was.

She recognized the way Lucius was looking at Lacey, and it wasn't the look he reserved for his clients or business associates. In fact, she'd have been slightly concerned if he'd bestowed that look upon her father. As Virginia watched, Lucius refilled Lacey's glass, murmuring something to her as he leant forward. Lacey folded her arms, and Lucius mirrored her action a few seconds later.

"...You would feel the same way, wouldn't you?". Cecily nudged Virginia's arm.

"Hmmm?"

Amelia sighed theatrically and crossed her legs, stubbing out her cigarette rather aggressively. "I told you she wasn't listening, Cecily!"

"You don't seem quite yourself, Virginia," Cecily said, sounding far more sympathetic than Amelia looked. "Are you sure everything's alright?"

Virginia thought about telling them the truth, but at that moment she caught the whiff of an all too familiar scent. Looking up, past Cecily's shoulder, she watched as Lucius held the door for Lacey, and followed her out, sweeping past her own table without a backwards glance.

"_Ma mie!" _Cecily snapped, waving her hand in front of Virginia's face. "Seriously, what is it?"

"Nothing!" Virginia replied, her tone regrettably irritable. Amelia raised an eyebrow at her, and Cecily looked shocked. Virginia sighed. "I'm sorry. I am. I just - I have to go now. I'll be in touch, _oui_?"

She stood up from the table, leaving enough Galleons, (the Galleons Lucius himself had given her), to cover everyone's meal, and left the café. When she reached the street, however, Lucius and Lacey were gone.

*.*.*.*.*

When Lucius entered the Dining Room in Malfoy Manor that evening, he found a distinctly disgruntled looking Virginia waiting for him. He sighed inwardly. Her face always had been as easy to read as a child's, but he could also tell when she was trying to put on a brave face. This was not one of those times. She didn't even turn her cheek towards him went he went to kiss her good evening.

"Good day, my dear?" he asked conversationally, ignoring her cold stare. She really was looking rather too petulant for his liking.

Virginia nodded but picked up her silver fork without elaborating, or even asking how his own day had been. In fact, Lucius had had a spectacularly pleasant day. He had received an unexpected visitor just before lunchtime in the form of none other than Lacey Delaney, and had been able to easily shuffle his standing appointments and take her out to lunch in Wiltshire.

Despite the constant stream of interruptions from adoring fans, (Lacey's reactions to which, Lucius had to admit, only endeared him more to the young woman), they had enjoyed a lively discussion, which most certainly rivaled their first date together.

He had prolonged his time with Lacey by taking her to visit an intimate wine-bar in the village after their lunch, determined, as he was, to improve her taste in liqueur. While she was looking the other way, he had even ordered a bottle of the shop-keeper's most expensive champagne to be delivered to her flat that evening.

Lucius had returned to the office in high spirits, and was now looking forward, having pushed the growing feelings of guilt aside, to an evening with his sweet, beautiful, charming young mistress - who was, currently, scowling at him, her pretty features screwed up as she stabbed into a potato with her knife. Lucius could hardly tell if she was on the brink of tears or murder from the look she was bestowing upon him.

"How was your day?" she asked, before violently spearing a piece of asparagus. Lucius didn't miss how she forwent on addressing him as _sir_ or another term of endearment. It was most unlike her. Still, he swallowed his food and ignored her tone.

"I had a most satisfactory day at the Ministry, darling." Her nostrils flared slightly as she regarded him. "How was lunch with your friends?"

"It left me feeling rather..._unsatisfied_, Sir," she replied cooly. Virginia, as a younger teenager, had developed quite a flare for being passive-aggressive, on which she had managed to overcome in recent years. She could feel notes of it edging back into her tone, and she wished she could quell it again, but found herself unable to do so.

Virginia, unlike Lucius, had not enjoyed her day. After abandoning her friends, which she now looked back on with regret, and finding no trace of either Lucius or Lacey in the quiet village, she had taken herself to the Ministry, assuming that Lucius would be back in his office by then. He was not.

His secretary, Charlotte, who also happened to be too pretty for Virginia's liking in her present state of mind, had told her hurriedly that her boss had asked her to rearrange his afternoon meetings, as _Lacey Delaney, (_'you know, the Quidditch player!'), had turned up out of the blue and wanted to see Lucius.

_When will he be back? _Virginia had enquired calmly, but Charlotte couldn't tell her. The secretary seemed far more interested in whether Lacey would be returning to the office with him, and had pulled out an oversized, and frankly ghastly, Harpies badge, which she was presumably hoping to ask Lacey to sign.

Virginia's immediate reaction upon leaving the Ministry had been anger - _who did this Lacey think she was?_ - but this had quickly turned to denial. Lucius loved her - she was convinced of it; he wouldn't cheat on her, would he?

She decided to investigate further before allowing herself to become too distraught. After all, all she had to go on were her observations of Lucius at lunch, from across a crowded café, no less, and what the simpering secretary Charlotte had told her.

Virginia had started off by making subtle enquiries, but it was Lucius' house-elf Lexi who had proved the most informative, telling her (before realizing her error and disapparting to punish herself most severely), that Lacey Delaney had been in the Manor earlier that very week to see Lucius, although Lexi couldn't recall what the meeting had been about.

Lucius took a moment in light of Virginia's comment to wipe his mouth with his napkin, before setting his cutlery down and folding his arms. "Would you care, Virginia, to tell me what _exactly_ has upset you, or am I to assume that your day spent indulging yourself with my bank card has not been entertaining enough for you?" he asked icily, his jaw setting into

a hard line when he had finished speaking.

Virginia gulped, but was far too angry to succumb to his tone and apologize. "I saw Lacey Delaney today," she replied, letting her passive-aggressive streak shine through. Lucius' cold stare never faltered, although inwardly he cursed. _Where is she going with this?_

"How exciting for you," he said condescendingly, his voice clipped with annoyance and hidden worry.

"She seems to be rather popular."

"Many Quidditch players of her ranking develop a following, Virginia - do you have a point to this fascinating anecdote?"

"It must be irritating to not even be able to go out for lunch without being seen." At this, Lucius set down his glass abruptly.

"Virginia you are testing my patience to its limit. Kindly tell me what has upset you, or leave my table. I want to eat my dinner in peace."

There was a heavy silence as Virginia made her decision. She knew that she was treading a thin and dangerous line with Lucius, but was determined to find out the truth, or at the very least whether or not Lucius would be honest with her. She cleared her throat before she spoke, finding that she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Do you know Lacey Delaney, Sir?" she asked, trying her best to keep her voice even.

There was another silence.

"Why do you ask?" he snapped.

"Only that I...I thought I saw you with her today." Virginia's words had lost their conviction, and she found herself beginning to whither under Lucius' glare. He noticed this.

"That sounded remarkably like an accusation, my dear," he commented lightly, lifting his wine glass and swirling the contents gently. "As I thought you were aware, I've been very, very busy as of late - I'm not sure when or where you think I would have met the young woman."

"I just-I wondered if..."

"Think carefully before you speak, Virginia," Lucius warned, picking up his fork and resuming his eating, watching her intently all the while. In the end, she remained silent, realizing that pushing the matter now was not worth risking her relationship. Still, she was deeply affronted that Lucius had lied to her, and her previously cemented faith in his feelings for her began to waver.

They finished eating in a tense silence, the only sound that of Lexi hurrying in and out. Lucius cleared his plate, but barely tasted a mouthful. _She knows something_. He racked his memories of lunchtime, trying to work out if Virginia could possibly have been there. He hadn't seen her, but he couldn't deny that he'd been utterly bewitched by Lacey the whole time.

He felt guilty. The trouble was, it was becoming all too easy to compare Virginia and Lacey, and every time he looked at Virginia, along with the guilt came a pang of annoyance at her accusations. He was angry that she'd found out, and even more angry that she had refused to come out and say it to him directly. _Lacey_, he found himself thinking, _wouldn't play games with me_. But Lacey, he reminded himself, wouldn't even have consented to a second date had she known the truth about Virginia. This thought, bizarrely, only served to increase his irritation with Virginia.

And yet, Virginia wasn't just some girl who happened to be getting in the way of a current relationship. In fact, that happened to be Lacey, unbeknownst to her. Virginia, however petulant and querulous she may have been that evening, was his darling. She was his rose without a thorn, his rock and his cherished mistress, and as soon as this thought struck Lucius, he was once again overwhelmed with the desire to make it up to her.

He rose at the end of the meal, and walked over to where Virginia sat, staring into her lap and clearly assuming that he'd leave without her. He gently touched her chin and tilted it up to him. "Will you join me tonight, my love?" he asked her softly, and saw hope return to her face. Her eyes were glistening as she nodded her assent.

He took her hand and led her through the Manor and up the staircase, feeling her physically relax beside him. When they reached the landing, he stopped and turned to her, running a gentle hand up her arm to rest on her shoulder.

"I don't want us to grow apart over trivial matters, pet," he said softly, tracing the outline of her jaw with his forefinger. "Let us forget what transpired at dinner tonight."

Virginia could feel herself melting into his caresses, and although she was still hurt over why he was lying to her, and what was being hidden, she knew that she didn't want to be alone tonight. "_I'm sorry_..." she whispered.

"I know you are," he soothed, but couldn't quite bring himself to say it back. "Come," he said instead, and opened the doors to his bedroom. Virginia was surprised when he didn't stop, but took her through instead into his ensuite. She'd been in there before, of course, but never with Lucius.

"Let's take a bath," he suggested lowly, and turned to start the water running. The bath tub was huge and luxurious, carved out of the wall in white marble, with numerous taps lining the far side. The tub was deep as well, but a sort of bench lined the inside, which was quickly filling with deliciously sweet fragranced warm water.

Virginia slipped out of her sleeveless blouse and shimmied out of her skirt, as Lucius de-robed. He climbed into the tub and slid easily into the water with a contented sigh at the warmth, and held out a hand, which Virginia took and followed him into the bath.

He pulled her gently to him in the water, so that she her back was resting against his chest, their legs spread out in front of them and intertwined. Lucius' hands found her shoulders and began to massage, until Virginia was breathing slowly and deeply, and fully relaxed. Only then did his hands stray lower, cupping her breasts and rubbing in circles as his lips nibbled her neck. Her head lolled back and she gazed up at the high ceiling with unfocused eyes.

Lucius continued his ministrations, working his way lower and lower, across her slim stomach, ghosting over her hips, and lower still, smirking when she groaned as he skimmed over the place she wanted him most and began to stroke her thighs softly, letting his fingers glide over the smooth skin.

He was determined not to rush, and continued his restrained caresses for longer than Virginia could bear. She could feel him growing harder and harder against her lower back, and the sensation only made her even more desperate for him to stop teasing.

She lifted her arms and wrapped them around Lucius' neck, tilting her head back. Lucius took his cue and kissed her, slowly and tenderly, his hands gliding back up over her waist and breasts. He, too, had had enough of waiting, and grasped her by the hips firmly, re-angling her body in the water so that she was straddling him, poised inches above his straining erection.

"_You_," he told her, cupping her cheek and trailing a wet finger across her jawline, "Are the only one I ever want to come home to. Let's not argue, pet."

She nodded, a smile settling on her face for the first time that evening, and Lucius lined himself up with her entrance, before placing his hands back on her hips and guiding her down onto him. His breath hissed out from behind gritted teeth as she enveloped him, and he dropped his head to plant kiss after kiss upon her collarbone.

Virginia's head fell back, and she wrapped her hands around Lucius' neck for balance, although he took charge of moving her up and down on him. He worked his hips up to hers, setting a slow and steady rhythm that had her moaning and beginning to tentatively move her hips herself, pushing further down onto him.

"Virginia..." he groaned, and nipped at the creamy skin on her shoulder with his teeth, causing her to tense momentarily, and her muscles clenched deliciously around him.

Lucius gradually increased the pace, going deeper with each thrust, until water began to spill over the edges of the tub with their movement. He reached down between their bodies and found her clit, and Virginia bucked into his palm.

"That feels so good..." she told him breathlessly, her eyes screwed shut in pleasure. "Please don't stop..."

"Never, my dear," he assured her, and a couple of particularly deep thrusts later, she was coming around him, her sweet mewls of pleasure drowned out by Lucius' cursing as he, too, found his release.

*.*.*.*.*

"Lace, there's an owl for you," Ginny called, tapping on the door of Lacey's bathroom. The girls were not quite sober, and had been enjoying a gossip over pre-drinks, getting ready to meet their team-mates for an evening out.

"Grab it for me-_ouch_," Lacey called out, her hand slipping and causing her to stab herself with a stick of mascara.

Ginny let the owl into Lacey's apartment, and her eyes widened at it's hefty load. The owl hovered, cooing impatiently, as Ginny cleared a space for it to land and set down the woven basket it was carrying.

"Someone's sent you a picnic basket, Lace!" Ginny laughed, sending the owl on its way with a biscuit as Lacey emerged, tugging the sleeves of her leather jacket down over her arms.

Lacey retrieved the note from where it was tied to the handle of the basket, and tore it open. Ginny watched as her eyes scanned the message, and her face broke into a smile.

"_Rich bastard_," she muttered through an ill-suppressed grin, tossing the note aside and reaching into the basket, pulling out a large bottle of _Branstone's Own Ebulli_, an extravagant brand of champagne neither of the girls had ever had the chance to sample.

"I'm guessing that's from your new friend?" Ginny asked, eying the bottle in some surprise, and looking into the basket, where a very fancy box of chocolates lay. "You only saw him earlier."

Lacey shrugged. "I must have made an impression," she winked at Ginny, putting the bottle down. "Are we going out or not then?"

The girls made their way to the Leaky, and found it completely packed. They inched their way towards the bar, and eventually found their teammates, who had been joined already at their table by a group of young wizards. Lacey rolled her eyes - they looked like the Ministry sort to her, with slicked back hair, ties askew over crisp shirts, and polished shoes which would soon be soiled with other people's drinks on a busy night like this.

"Lacey, Ginny, over here!" a tall, blonde woman called, and the pair pushed their way over to join one of the Harpies' beaters. As Lacey found a spot next to Ava, someone shoved into her from behind, and her beer slipped from her hand, smashing on the hard floor of the pub and sending sticky liquid in all directions.

"_Fuck_..." she growled, pulling out her wand, but before she could clean up the mess she heard someone else say the charm, and, looking up, locked eyes with a strangely-familiar dark-haired man. Having vanished the broken glass, he quickly cleaned away the beer, before pocketing his wand and holding out his hand.

"Robert Green," he said, shaking her hand firmly, and Lacey realized where she knew him from as soon as she heard his accent - this was _the _Robert Green, the Chaser for the American National team. She'd had his poster on her bedroom wall after the World Cup of 1990.

"Lacey Delaney," she replied with an almost star-struck smile, but he let out a short laugh and put a hand on her arm.

"I know."

"Oh," she breathed.

"May I buy you a new drink?" he asked, and before Lacey remembered herself she had assented, and was following him through the crowds, which was much easier when walking behind a tall and bulky man.

"So what are you doing in London?" she asked when she had found her voice again, and he told her that he was here being scouted for a new team.

Lacey took a sip of her new beer and, before she could stop herself, blurted out: "Won't your girlfriend mind you leaving the States?" There had been media attention in the previous year about Green's high-profile relationship with his team's Seeker, and all of a sudden, in her slightly drunken state, this seemed highly important to Lacey.

Robert looked mildly surprised, but merely laughed, tossing a salted peanut into his mouth. "I guess _Witch Weekly_ haven't caught on yet - she's not my girlfriend anymore."

"Oh," Lacey said again, taking a longer sip of her drink as a vague blush spread across her cheeks. "I didn't mean to-"

"Shall we step outside?" Robert asked, again placing a hand on her arm. "It's hot in here."

**A/N: What do you think will happen next? We would both love to get your feedback in a review! Just head on down to that little empty box! ;)**


	8. Promises, Partings, and Payback

**A/N: Thanks for reading and sticking with us! Hope you like the change of pace in this chapter!**

***.*.*.*.***

**Chapter 7: Promises, Partings, and Payback**

***.*.*.*.***

Lucius lay with Virginia in his plush bed, gently stroking his fingers through the strands of her chocolate hair that were splayed out on the pillow besides his. After their intense lovemaking in the bath, Lucius had dried his mistress off and carried her to the bed where he had tucked her in, still naked, and took his place under the covers besides her. His general annoyance with her had faded to nearly nothing and he was just thankful he had avoided a horrible situation altogether.

"Sir?"

Her little voice sounded so 'cute' to Lucius that he mentally balked at even thinking the word…but there was no other term to describe it. Her eyes were half-closed, causing her thick, long lashes to flutter against her cheeks every now and then and she looked so peaceful resting besides him.

"Darling?" He reached out and stroked her flawless, pale cheek softly, waiting for her reply.

"I'm sorry I asked for too much. I'm sorry that I thought you would ever…" even in her tired, sated state, she still couldn't bring herself to say the dreaded word. Lucius' heart beat picked up once again, knowing full well that Lacey was about to re-enter the conversation. As far as he was concerned though, there was not enough room for two women in his bed at the same time.

"Trust me, Virginia, there is no other woman like you…" Lucius chose his words carefully. That statement was true, and the unwelcome guilt threatened to creep back into his mind, "I'm here with you, right now, not with anyone else, aren't I?"

Virginia nodded, looking up at her lover curiously. She searched for sincerity in his eyes and found it. It still bothered her that he had lied at dinner…but she couldn't deny what he said. He came home to her. He wanted her. A man of his power and wealth could kick her out in a second if he wanted to, and yet he kept her.

"I'm sorry sir, I was just being foolish…" Virginia kept on, not knowing what else to say, but realizing that she should be satisfied with the outcome for now. Although she had no sexual experience before Lucius, she was certain no man could ever look at a woman like Lucius looked at her if there wasn't love there…he just hadn't fully expressed it yet. She was sure that her friends and _Maman_ would agree if she ever had the nerve to tell them what it was like when his crystal blue eyes seemed to bore into her soul every time he made love to her.

Lucius could practically hear his mistress thinking. For every ten wonderful qualities Virginia had, she had some streaks of childishness and poutiness. He knew most pureblood girls were like that-Merlin only knew how difficult Narcissa could be at times, and he kept reminding himself of Virginia's age and inexperience. It was erotic and yet sometimes trying-like now.

The thing with women…and particularly mistresses, as Lucius knew well, was that they didn't forget when you slipped up. He knew that the name Lacey Delaney was probably playing over in Virginia's perfect little head if her scrunched button nose was anything to go by, and there would be no getting rid of her anxiety without a little more help.

"I've been thinking…" Lucius sighed, trying to make the noise sound relaxed, but it wasn't. Virginia perked up a bit and opened her pretty eyes all the way to look up at him. She moved so that she was resting her chin on her hand and this brought the sheets down her body a bit, exposing her right breast, which sidetracked Lucius for a moment as his gaze darted there and he tried not to look at her too hungrily.

"About?" Her voice was breathy and she licked her lips a little. Lucius could feel himself getting hard again and couldn't help but smirk a little and how quickly Virginia managed to gain the upper hand again. For a girl who came to him not knowing what she was doing…she did a damn good job of turning him on without even trying. It only made what he was about to say more genuine and easier to leave his lips, "I've been thinking about us…and I do think we should consider talking about taking the next step… if you'd like…"

Virginia couldn't have moved faster if she had tried. Her sweet reaction put a large smile on Lucius' face as she nearly pounced on him in excitement, "You mean it?"

He kissed her and pulled her down closer to him so that she was lying on his chest, "Yes. But let's not rush. Let's just consider it all, consider what it would be like…" He knew it would make her happy, and part of him-a large part-wanted to spend every waking moment with Virginia. But another part of him dreaded a ring on his finger again and he certainly didn't want to drag Virginia's mother into things _just_ yet. Virginia needed a happy distraction, and _he_ needed a happy mistress.

"But what does that mean?" Virginia's eyes were lit up like it was Christmas morning, her hair falling around Lucius' face like a sweet-smelling chestnut curtain, "Can I tell my friends? _Maman_? _Papa_?"

"Pet, there's no engagement ring on you _yet_…I just want to tell you that I realize our courtship has been a long one and I am considering making things more serious between us. You are my darling and I just want to show you what you mean to me…" Lucius had a way with making his words sound so enchanting that even though they weren't saying much at all, they made Virginia smile brightly, "Now, we can talk about the rest in the morning, but I have other plans for right now…"

He caught her lips and rolled over so that he pinned Virginia down on the bed, making his way down her body through scorching kisses.

***.*.*.*.***

"So, what is a pretty girl like you doing in a pub like that?" Robert asked Lacey as he led her outside, his hand on her upper arm to guide her. He led her around to the brick side-wall of the Leaky, out of the crowd in front swearing loudly, smoking, and laughing.

"The Leaky is my second home sometimes. The team is always out together. Sisterly bonding you might say," Lacey shrugged, "I could ask you the same thing…why are you all the way in London at _this_ pub?"

"Needed a vacation…and doing a little bit of scouting too…for the reserve team," Robert replied, moving a little bit closer to Lacey and pushing a stray strand of her messy hair back behind her ear. Lacey didn't think much of it, just grinned widely up at him-who was even quite a bit taller than she was-still in awe that a man she had too many Quidditch badges of to count was standing right next to her.

"I don't mean to be that girl…but your play in the last five minutes of the match against Australia….I can't even _begin_ to tell you how much it influenced my diving technique…really…" Lacey went into full Quidditch mode, rattling off matches and plays and techniques as if they were the most common facts in the world and Robert stood with his mouth slightly agape for a moment. He found her rambling endearing, if not a little manic, and put his hand on her shoulder to make her pause. She looked up at him, lips rosy and parted, in the middle of a thought.

"You don't really want to talk shop do you?" she finished, more than slightly embarrassed and he shook his head, laughing a bit. He scratched the back of his head absently, as if contemplating something as he stared off into the distance and Lacey leaned back against the rough brick wall.

"Well, to be honest, when I saw you in there, I just wanted to get you alone, you are gorgeous you know…" he moved a step closer to her and snaked his hand around her waist. His head bowed a bit and the next thing she knew, he was kissing at her neck…but it felt bizarre…he was sucking at her tender skin too hard and everything was much too wet.

Lacey didn't know if it was the night air that sobered her up, or a serious change in herself, but him touching her wasn't something she wanted.

He was handsome, fit, and talented…but to Lacey, he just wasn't…

_Lucius_

His name rang out in her head and she instantly pushed Robert off her, telling him to stop. He looked confused for a half of a second, but then moved back in to kiss her again. Lacey blocked him with her arm against his chest once more.

"Ah, feisty, I like that…you know Lacey, you don't have to pretend not to want it. I've read enough articles about you to know what you are like. You're my type of girl…" he went on, his hands groping her body and with another hard shove she had put some distance between them and drew out her wand.

"You are no stranger to the gossip columns either, and you know bloody well most of it is bollocks. I'm not sure what type of girl you think I am, but I can tell you I'm not your type…actually…more like _you_ aren't _my_ type!"

Robert didn't seem to understand that what Lacey meant by that was a 'no way in hell are you to ever get near me again' because he stepped in front of her and cornered her with her back against the wall again, fiercely kissing her. Lacey closed her mouth and eyes and a bright flash of light suddenly burned past her eyelids and she opened them quickly when she heard what could only be described as a cackle of delight.

Over Robert's shoulder was none other than Rita Skeeter in a hideous violet skirt suit with green fur trim, having her magicked floating camera snap pictures of her and Robert. Lacey put a palm on each of Robert's shoulders and used the leverage to knee him swiftly in the crotch, causing him to jolt back, cursing wildly, and allowed Lacey to get farther away and immobilize him with a simple spell as she walked towards the pseudo-reporter.

"How come whenever a good-looking man suddenly comes on the market, I find you with him Miss Delaney?" Rita smirked, her quill poised to write down Lacey's reaction.

"I find it flattering that you have nothing better to do than follow me around, but you might want to get your facts straight. I am not interested in Robert Green and I never will be," Lacey nearly growled at the older blonde who quickly went to writing on her pad of paper. Lacey grabbed it out of her hand and ripped it quickly in two and threw it on the ground before turning to stomp away.

"Where's dear Mr. Malfoy? Not here to save you?" Skeeter simpered and Lacey threw a scathing glance back in the woman's direction as she walked back over to Robert leaning against the wall, still doubled over but the spell had worn off.

"You're just a bloody tease and a stupid bitch!" Robert gasped out, trying to stomach the pain and standing up a little straighter. Lacey still kept her wand pointed at him, "Nah, I'm just a girl, trying to keep pervs like you from grabbing at someone they have no right to. Besides….I see your game Robert. I'm sorry your ex's career just took a shitter, but there is no way you are going to play power couple with me…_ever_," she told him, her voice unwavering and turned on the spot to set her body in motion for apparition, thinking hard of the exact place she wanted to be.

She knew it was late but there truly wasn't any one she wanted to see than the man who had come into her life so unexpectedly and turned out to not be as bad as she thought he was. In fact, he made her feel like a princess when Lacey was only used to feeling like 'one of the guys' and as she walked the long, dark path up to Malfoy Manor, she felt as if butterflies had taken up permanent residence in her stomach.

Lexi, Lucius' house elf, greeted Lacey and let her into the foyer, twiddling her little fingers nervously as she did so.

"I know its late and I'm sorry to disturb you guys, but could you wake up Lucius? It's important. Tell him its Lacey…" she asked of the house elf who seemed not to know what to do with herself for a moment.

"Missus Delaney should go home…Master is with Mistress and they are sleeping," Lexi nodded as if that was the end of the conversation, her buggy eyes looking up at Lacey as if they hoped she would just leave.

"Mrs. Malfoy is here?" Lacey looked up at the double staircases leading to the second floor, wondering why his ex-wife would suddenly come to visit, but it didn't deter her from wanting to see him, "Lexi, please, could you get Lucius for me?"

The elf nodded with panic in her eyes and dissaparated, reappearing at the foot of Lucius' bed and the 'pop' started Virginia awake. She was a light sleeper, always had been, and even after Lucius giving her multiple orgasms with only his tongue, she was still coherent enough to note that Lexi was in the room, wringing her hands.

"Sir, your elf…" Virginia whispered sleepily, tapping Lucius on the shoulder and the blond grunted before sitting up and narrowing his eyes at his house elf.

"Master, you have a visitor," Lexi said tentatively. She knew better than to say who it was, knowing how upset Virginia had gotten the last time she mentioned that Lacey had been in the house.

"It's two in the bloody morning, what do they want?" he growled and Lexi jumped a little at his tone and looked dangerously close to hitting herself with something.

"To speak with you. They are in the foyer, please come," Lexi asked, hoping her master wouldn't be angry with her and she disappeared. Lucius stumbled out of bed, fumbled for some silk pyjama pants, and walked towards the door, "I'll be back in a moment, go back to bed darling," he called over his shoulder to Virginia.

Taking the steps down the staircase two at a time, Lucius' blurred and sleepy vision finally adjusted and he saw Lacey waiting for him at the landing, "What in Merlin's name are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too," Lacey crossed her arms, saddened at his reaction but she tried her best to put on a front of nonchalance.

"Of course it's nice to see you, I just wasn't expecting you. You can't just waltz in and out of here on your every whim!" He was exasperated, and clearly preoccupied, and regret slowly crept across Lacey's face. She looked down at the floor and toed an invisible rock with the tip of her black combat boot.

"Well…I kinda thought I could. We are dating, aren't we?"

The words hung in the air awkwardly and with every passing second, Lacey wanted to just curl into a ball and disappear. She felt exceedingly small, and she never felt that way. She stuffed her hands in the pockets of her leather blazer and nodded in silence, "Yep, alright, I get it."

"What do you 'get'?" Lucius ran a hand over his face, still trying to wake himself up. He couldn't have been more jumpy if he tried. Any second he knew Virginia would come looking for him and it would all be over. And yet…he was dumbstruck by how beautiful Lacey looked wearing tight dark jeans and a slouchy white shirt with her leather jacket, masses of hair falling over her shoulders. He was also profoundly upset that he had taken the vibrant smile off her face that he liked so much, and he didn't know how to fix it.

"You don't want me here…"

"Lacey, I do…trust me I _really do_…but can we talk in the morning?"

"I thought everything was going well today…_whatever_, it doesn't matter…look, something happened tonight and I thought I could come to you but I was clearly wrong. Sorry to wake you up," Lacey shrugged sadly and began to turn to leave when Lucius caught her arm and pulled her back towards him, kissing her softly and holding his hand up to her cheek, softly caressing it.

He wanted to buy himself time to come up with exactly what he wanted to say, and he also just couldn't stand there and not kiss her for a second longer. It was becoming increasingly clear to Lucius that he was a better man than he once was in some ways, but he was too old to be caught between too women like this. He didn't know how he could relish in such a situation one moment and hate it so much the next.

Lacey ended the kiss before Lucius was finished, looking very much as if she wanted to slap him hard across the face. Her blue eyes were brimming with anger but she kept still, "I gave you a chance. I put it out there. I let you know I'm interested. Why won't you do the same for me?"

Lacey's bluntness was something he admired about her, but being on the receiving end of her questions would make any man squirm.

"Lacey…I…." so many words were on the verge of rushing past his lips but he pulled them back. He wanted to make apologies and promises, but the girl sleeping upstairs made that impossible.

"You what? Go on…grow some fucking balls and tell me you aren't interested…or you think I'm just some slag. I've heard it all before. You won't hurt my bloody feelings," she raised her voice and Lucius wasn't thick…he plainly saw that it was all bravado and she was deeply hurt and possibly even embarrassed. He suddenly felt so restricted and tied to the mistress he had promised the world to seconds ago. He thought he could keep them separate but there they were, once again both in his house in the same moment. Lucius felt so vulnerable standing before Lacey in only his sleeping pants and mortified that he ever called himself a gentleman when he could act like this.

"Lacey I am very, _very_ interested in you. I just…I have some things to take care of. Give me a few days and I'll make it up to you. The Ministry is exceedingly busy and…" Lucius started to lie to try and buy himself some time and excuse himself for his poor behavior, but a little voice interrupted their conversation.

"Lucius? Where are you?"

It was Virginia, and it echoed through the upstairs hallway where the bedrooms were. Lacey raised her eyebrows and Lucius froze in place, knowing that the younger girl would be at the top of the staircase in seconds.

"That doesn't sound like the Ministry…" Lacey rolled her eyes, trying to hide the strong feeling of being punched in the gut…and she knew, even having only met the woman once, that it wasn't the previous Mrs. Malfoy either, "It's funny, really, I came here to tell you I was at the pub with the team and this guy tried to take advantage of me and that bitch Skeeter caught it on her camera…because I wanted you to know…and trust me…but I guess it really doesn't fucking matter now," Lacey said softly but the anger in her voice was clear, and this time Lucius didn't reach for her when she left the Manor. He stood and watched her go and then looked up at the top of the stairs to where Virginia was standing in one of his shirts barely skimming the tops of her thighs. She had only just gotten there, and barely seen the flash of brown hair leave the Manor.

"Was that Lacey?" Virginia asked, trying to keep her voice even, "I heard yelling…"

"I sent her on her way, you know how possessive some girls get…I talked to her once at a match and she thinks she senses a spark…" it was painful for Lucius to say, and he honestly didn't care if his lies weren't matching up or if Virginia still believed she saw them at the café. He wanted to make sure he didn't ruin what he had fixed with her already, and he would do anything to not let things regress.

"Well," Virginia seemed to be contemplating his answer but she saw the girl storm off and there had definitely been an argument. In an odd way, Virginia felt as if it was over-that there might have been something between Lucius and Lacey Delaney before, but it was gone now, "Come back to bed?"

"Yes, darling, of course."

As Lucius walked up the stairs towards his mistress, his mind stayed with Lacey. As much as what had just transpired would be the perfect opportunity for him to forget her and walk away, he simply couldn't. He knew, even as he grasped his mistresses' hand, that he had to find a way to see Lacey again…he wanted to find a way to be with them both…even for just a little while longer.

***.*.*.*.***

Lacey walked slowly across the lawn of Malfoy Manor, immobilizing the creepy white peacocks with her wand just for the hell of it. With the back of her hand, she wiped away the tears that flowed from her eyes and sniffed back her emotion.

She had fallen for him…and still was falling for him…even if it was clear that the French girl living with him was more than just a promise to her wealthy father. Lacey couldn't understand why she had been so stupid and blinded, even when she knew that a Malfoy couldn't be trusted.

Even though the logical part of her knew this, her body ached for him and her heart hurt as well. Swallowing back another wave of tears, Lacey decided to apparate to the one place she knew she shouldn't, letting her reckless streak overtake her, hoping that even if he never found out, that she would be satisfied knowing it would piss Lucius off.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! More to come soon! Who do you feel worse for…Virginia or Lacey? Tell us what you think! Any little word in that lonely box will do! **


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